Firms back Bangladesh safety plan

Wal-Mart has announced it will be conducting in-depth safety inspections at all 279 Bangladesh factories it works with, as pressure mounts on retailers to ensure worker safety after April's deadly building collapse in Dhaka, which killed more than a thousand people.

Ruth Tanner, campaigns and policy director at the anti-poverty charity War on Want, said companies signing up to Bangladesh Safety Accord represents a "crucial victory" for the "workers who make our clothes"

• Read: Bangladesh safety plan backed

High street clothing retailer H&M has committed to a fire and safety plan in Bangladesh aimed at preventing any repeats of the building collapse that left more than 1,000 workers dead.

In a statement, the firm said it was committed to supporting the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

The accord, over five years, is aimed at improving fire and building safety in the garment industry in Bangladesh to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

The Rana Plaza building collapse is the latest in a series of deadly incidents in the country, whose garment industry supplies much of the western world.

• Read: Bangladesh safety plan backed

Tesco confirmed it has signed an Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

In a statement, the supermarket chain noted the "scale and horror of the disaster" that "has drawn the world’s attention" and has "touched customers".

The supermarket chain said that multinational retailers like Tesco, which source from Bangladesh, "must help it to change in a positive way, a way which sustains and improves the livelihoods of all those who work in the industry".

• Read: Dhaka survivor search ends

Retailer Primark has committed to signing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, it said in a statement.

A garment factory building in Dhaka - where a Primark supplier was based - collapsed on 24 April, killing hundreds.

Primark said the accord will "align its activities with the NAP, and ensure a close collaboration, including for example establishing common programmes, liaison and advisory structures".

The programme will "complement the work already being carried out by Primark’s Ethical Trade team in Bangladesh for a number of years," the retailer said in a statement.

• Read: Dhaka survivor search ends

Nearly three weeks after a Bangladesh garment-factory building collapsed, the search for bodies has ended with a final death toll of 1,127.

Fire services and the army have left the Dhaka building site where the disaster occured on 24 April.

The last survivor was found on Friday, when rescue teams were stunned to discover Reshma Begum, a seamstress who survived under the rubble for 17 days.

The last dead body was found on Sunday night, and authorities said a special prayer service will be held Tuesday to honour the dead.

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building has focused global attention on hazardous conditions in Bangladesh's powerful garment industry.

Primark has said it is putting together a "comprehensive support package" for those affected by the building collapse in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka:

Read: Western firms 'share blame' for Dhaka factory problems

A survivor who was pulled from a collapsed building in Dhaka today after 17 days has said: "I never dreamed I'd see the daylight again", the Associated Press reports.

The woman, believed to be called Reshma, is being treated in hospital.

The woman who was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed factory building in Bangladesh after 17 days today, is being treated in hospital.

The woman believed to be called Reshma is thought to be in her late teens.

It has been reported that she was found in a prayer room at the basement of the building.

Watch: Cheers as woman rescued from Dhaka factory rubble