
Hopes are fading of finding any more survivors in the ruins of a collapsed factory in Savar, on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

Nearly 2,500 people are known to have survived the disaster - many of them dug out by rescue workers - but the garment factory had some 3,000 people working inside when its walls gave way on Wednesday and many are unaccounted for.

Many people are still waiting at the site of the Rana Plaza building, hoping for news of their missing relatives.

But emergency workers say that as the operation reaches its sixth day they are now finding only bodies inside the rubble.

Heavy lifting gear is now being used to lift concrete slabs. Search co-ordinators have said they will proceed with caution, in case anyone is alive underneath and to avoid damaging bodies.

Their efforts were dealt a fresh blow on Sunday when sparks from metal-cutting equipment being used to free a trapped woman started a fire in the rubble. Rescuers later said she had not survived. Four firefighters were also injured.

The disaster has prompted days of protests in Dhaka, with demands for those held responsible for the deaths to be prosecuted.

On Sunday, the building's owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana, was arrested, reportedly as he was about to flee over the border into India. He is accused of illegally adding floors to the building and of telling workers it was safe to enter despite cracks which appeared days before the collapse.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited some of the injured in hospital. She pledged to ensure that every injured worker would be given future employment, adding that prosthetic limbs would be made available to those who needed them.