Bangladeshi rescuers squeeze through a gap to help pull out survivors spotted in the debris of a building that collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. An eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed near Bangladesh’s capital on Wednesday, killing dozens of people and trapping many more under a jumbled mess of concrete. Rescuers tried to cut through the debris with earthmovers, drilling machines and their bare hands.
Survivors who suffered amputations while being rescued receive medical treatment at the Enam Medical College in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 4, 2013. Officials said Saturday that more than 530 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of the eight-story Rana Plaza building that collapsed last week, sparking desperate rescue efforts, a national outpouring of grief and violent street protests
A woman grieves for her late relative after his body was pulled from the rubble in the collapsed garment factory building and brought to the morgue, in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 4, 2013. In the aftermath of a building collapse that killed more than 530 people, Bangladesh's garment manufacturers may face a choice of reform or perish.
A woman cries over a coffin containing the body of her relative who was retrieved from the rubble after a garment factory building collapsed last week and brought to the morgue for identification, Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The death toll in the accident rose to more than 530 on Saturday, a day after the country's finance minister downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, saying he didn't think it was "really serious."
A man lies on a school ground as he waits for news on his relative, a garment worker who is still missing after the collapse of the Rana Plaza building, in Savar, outside Dhaka May 5, 2013. The wife of a Bangladeshi garment worker who was killed when a building collapsed filed a murder complaint against the building's owner on Sunday as the death toll from the country's worst industrial disaster climbed to 622. REUTERS/Stringer
A relative of a garment worker checks a body as she searches for her relative who is missing after the Rana Plaza building, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 25, 2013. he death toll from a building collapse in Bangladesh has risen to 160 and could climb higher, police said on Thursday, with people trapped under the rubble of a complex that housed garment factories supplying retailers in Europe and North America. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj
ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH Rescue workers carry the remains of a garment worker retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka May 5, 2013. The wife of a Bangladeshi garment worker who was killed when a building collapsed filed a murder complaint against the building's owner on Sunday as the death toll from the country's worst industrial disaster climbed to 622.
A woman is comforted as she grieves after identifying the body of her daughter, a victim of the garment factory collapse, Sunday, May 5, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The death toll from the collapse of a shoddily built garment-factory building in Bangladesh continued its horrifying climb, reaching 580 on Sunday with little sign of what the final number will be. The disaster is likely the worst garment-factory accident ever, and there have been few industrial accidents of any kind with a higher death toll. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
The development comes as officials said Monday that the death toll from the country's worst industrial disaster had reached 675.
Sheuli Akter, the wife of Jahangir Alam, filed the complaint with Dhaka magistrate Wasim Sheikh, saying her husband and other workers were "pushed toward death" by building ownerMohammed Sohel Rana and two others.
Alam was employed in New Wave Styles Ltd., one of the five garment factories housed in the eight-story Rana Plaza that collapsed April 24 as workers started their morning shift even though cracks had developed in the building.
New Wave Styles owner Bazlul Adnan and local government engineer Imtemam Hossain were the two others accused in the case.
Magistrate Sheikh ordered police to investigate the complaints, and local police chief Mohammed Asaduzzman said Monday that they would now investigate possible murder charges.
A conviction for murder can result in a death sentence in Bangladesh.
Nine people, including Rana and Adanan, have already been arrested on other charges. Rana faces charges such as negligence and illegal construction, which are punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail.
By Monday evening, the death toll had reached 675, according to the police control room at the scene. It is not known how many people are still missing, as workers use heavy equipment to search through the rubble. There is a stench around the collapse site from decomposing bodies.
An architect whose firm designed the initial floors of the building said Sunday it had not been designed for heavy industrial work. Masood Reza, an architect with Vastukalpa Consultants, said they designed the building in 2004 as a shopping mall and not for industrial purposes.
Officials say Rana illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install generators. Vibrations from garment machines and from the generators were thought to have contributed to the collapse.
The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, surpassing the 1911 garment disaster in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory, which killed 146 workers, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that killed 112, also in 2012
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