DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s finance ministerdownplayed the impact of last week’s
factory-building collapse on hiscountry’s garment industry, saying he didn’t think it was
"reallyserious" Friday, hours after the 500th body was pulled from the debris.FinanceMinister
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith spoke as the government cracked down onthose it blamed for the disaster in the
Dhaka suburb of Savar. Itsuspended Savar’s mayor and arrested an engineer who had called for
thebuilding’s evacuation last week, but was also accused of helping theowner add three illegal floors to
the eight-story structure. Thebuilding owner was arrested earlier.The government appears to beattempting
to fend off accusations that it is in part to blame for thetragedy because of weak oversight of the
building’s construction.Duringa visit to the Indian capital New Delhi, Muhith said the disaster wouldnot
harm Bangladesh’s garment industry, which is by far the country’sbiggest source of export
income."The present difficulties …well, I don’t think it is really serious — it’s an
accident," he said."And the steps that we have taken in order to make sure that it
doesn’thappen, they are quite elaborate and I believe that it will beappreciated by all."When asked
if he was worried that foreignretailers might pull orders from his country, Muhith said he
wasn’t:"These are individual cases of … accidents. It happens everywhere."TheApril 24
collapse is likely the deadliest garment-factory accident inworld history. It surpassed both long-ago
disasters such as New York’sTriangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which killed 146 workers in 1911, andmore
recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 peoplein Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that
same year that killed 112.Atthe site of the collapse, the official death toll reached 501 Fridayand was
expected to climb. Workers carefully used cranes to remove theconcrete rubble and continue the slow task
of recovering bodies. Theofficial number of missing has been 149 since Wednesday, thoughunofficial
estimates are higher."We are still proceedingcautiously so that we get the bodies intact,"
said Maj. Gen. ChowdhuryHassan Suhwardy, the commander of the area’s army garrison supervisingthe rescue
operation.A government investigator said Friday thatsubstandard building materials, combined with the
vibration of heavymachines used by the five garment factories inside the Rana Plazabuilding, led to the
horrific collapse.Mainuddin Khandkar, thehead of a government committee investigating the disaster,
saidsubstandard rods, cement, bricks and other weak materials were used inthe construction of the Rana
Plaza building, which was not properlyfortified to house the garment factories’ equipment.About
15minutes before the collapse, the building was hit by a power blackout,so its heavy generators were
turned on, shaking the weakened structure,Khandkar said."The vibration created by machines and
generatorsoperating in the five garment factories contributed first to the cracksand then the
collapse," he said, adding that a final report would besoon submitted to the government.Police
official Ohiduzzaman saidFriday that engineer Abdur Razzak Khan was arrested a day earlier on acharge of
negligence. He said Khan worked as a consultant to Rana Plazaowner Mohammed Sohel Rana when the illegal
three-floor addition was madeto the building.Rana called Khan to inspect the building afterit developed
cracks on April 23, local media reported. That night Khanappeared on a private television station saying
that after hisinspection he told Rana to evacuate the building because it was notsafe.Khan, a former
engineer at Jahangirnagar University nearSavar, said he told government engineers the building needed to
beexamined further.Police ordered the building evacuated, butwitnesses say Rana told people gathered
outside the next morning thatthe building was safe and that garment factory managers told theirworkers
to go inside. It collapsed hours later.Authorities alsosuspended the mayor of Savar, Mohammad
Refatullah, for allegednegligence, said Abu Alam, a top official of the local governmentministry.Alam
said an official investigation has found that themayor ignored rules in approving the design and layout
of the doomedbuilding. The mayor is from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party,which has
criticized his suspension as politically motivated.Thegovernment also effectively suspended Kabir
Hossain Sardar, the topgovernment administrator at Savar, following reports that he declaredthe building
safe after inspecting the cracks a day before the collapse.Sardar had close links with Rana. Alam said
the government was takingaction against everyone involved with Rana and his building.Ranahimself was
arrested earlier and is expected to be charged withnegligence, illegal construction and forcing workers
to join work,crimes punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail. Authorities havenot said if more
serious crimes will be added.The Bangladesh HighCourt has ordered the government to confiscate Rana’s
property andfreeze the assets of the owners of the factories in Rana Plaza so themoney can be used to
pay the salaries of their workers.Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels,
Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms.___AP Videojournalist Archana Thiyagarajan
in New Delhi contributed to this report.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.