Survivor found 16 days after Dhaka building collapse

Sixteen days into one of Bangladesh's worst tragedies that has so far left over 1,000 people dead, rescuers Friday found a young woman clinging to life beneath the sandwiched floors of the collapsed eight-storey building in Dhaka.

The deaths in the collapse of the Rana Plaza building climbed to 1,043, Xinhua reported.

On Thursday, at least 55 bodies were pulled out from the rubble, officials said.

A young female garment worker named Reshma was found Friday beneath two sandwiched floors of the collapsed building.

Rescuers have pulled out alive over 2,400 people after the building crumbled April 24.

At least 12 people have been arrested, including the owner of the building and owners of the garment factories.

Apart from a bank branch and hundreds of shops, six floors of the building housed five garment factories which make clothing for many major global brands.

After cracks were detected just a day before the disaster in the building, thousands were evacuated.

However, factory officials forced the workers the next morning to continue working.

An initial government probe has blamed vibrations from giant generators combined with the vibrations of sewing machinery for the collapse of the building, allegedly constructed without proper permission and with substandard materials.

Thanks to its cheap labour, Bangladesh is now the world's second largest garments exporter after China, producing global brands for customers around the world.

The $20-billion garment export sector comprises about 5,000 factories employing more than four million workers, 80 percent of whom are women.

In one of the worst tragedies in Bangladesh's history late last year, at least 112 workers were killed in a fire that razed the eight-storey Tazreen Fashion Limited, where global brands were manufactured.