Heavy concrete cutting gear is now removing rubble

Thirty bodies have been recovered and about 100 people pulled out alive from the factory in Savar, 32km (20 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.

Heavy concrete cutting gear is being used to move the rubble but hope is fading of finding many more survivors.

Distraught relatives are still at the scene calling out to loved ones.

Cries fade

The stench of rotting corpses is now rising from the ruins of the nine-storey clothing factory as temperatures hit 34 degrees Celsius.

My desire to live gave me strength and eventually I could wriggle myself out Mohammad Motaleb In pictures: Building collapse

Brig-Gen Nizam Ahmed of the Bangladeshi army told Reuters news agency: "We are trying to cut a passage to the fourth floor and then will strive to go to lower floors."

He said bodies could be seen in the debris, adding: "The recovery is slow as we have to work very carefully so that no survivor is harmed."

Two people were pulled out alive late on Tuesday but four more bodies were recovered overnight.

Relatives are now prepared for the worst

One of the survivors, Mohammad Motaleb, said: "I was working on the seventh floor when the building caved in and was trapped for more than 24 hours before I could see a flicker of light coming in."

The Spectrum Sweater and Knitting Industries factory was packed with hundreds of workers on the night shift when it collapsed, probably because of a boiler explosion.

The government has ordered an investigation amid reports the building was illegally constructed on marshland.

However, the factory's management has denied the allegations.

Hundreds of mourning relatives are still at the site calling to relatives but there are no more cries for help.

Fatema Khatun and Abdus Sala, parents of 15-year-old Iman Ali, said: "He was working there but we know that he is dead."

Another woman said of her husband: "The situation is hopeless. I just want to find his body."

Senior government officer, Abdul Bari, said: "Coffins have been brought in advance in case they are needed to send home the decomposed bodies."