Pelukan Terakhir! Foto Menyayat Hati dari Pabrik yang Runtuh
Final Embrace! The Heart-wrenching Shot of the Collapse Factory
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
SEBUAH gambar menyeramkan telah muncul di antara korban yang tewas di pabrik runtuh di Bangladesh - berpelukan satu sama lain saat mereka tewas.
Di antara puing-puing, debu dan logam yang berserakan di sekitarnya, wanita tak bernyawa itu tampak menjauh dan sang pria tampak berusaha memeluk untuk melindunginya.
Pakaian biru muda yang dikenakan - diketahui buatan pabrik naas tersebut - puing reruntuhan gedung yang akan telah dibuat di pabrik garmen - tampak darah menetes dari matanya, seperti dilansir The Sun.
Foto menyayat hati itu diabadikan oleh oleh fotografer lokal Taslima Akhter, yang mengatakan: "Saya berusaha keras, tetapi belum menemukan petunjuk tentang mereka."
"Saya tidak tahu siapa mereka atau apa hubungan mereka satu sama lain."
"Saya berada di lokasi seharian, menyaksikan para pekerja garmen terluka yang diselamatkan dari reruntuhan.
"Saya teringat mata ketakutan kerabat - saya lelah secara mental dan fisik.
"Sekitar pukul 02:00 pagi, saya menemukan beberapa korban berangkulan satu sama lain dalam reruntuhan.
"Bagian bawah tubuh mereka terkubur di bawah beton. Darah dari mata pria itu berlinang seperti air mata.
"Ketika saya melihat pasangan, saya tidak bisa percaya. Saya merasa seperti kenal mereka - mereka merasa sangat dekat dengan saya."
Taslima menambahkan: "Setiap kali saya melihat kembali ke foto ini, saya merasa tidak nyaman - itu menghantui saya.
"Seolah-olah mereka berkata kepada saya, kami bukan nomor (jumlah korban) - tidak hanya dibayar murah. hidup kami juga sulit. Kami adalah manusia seperti kamu."
Lebih dari 900 orang diketahui tewas - sekitar 2.500 orang terluka - dari pabrik runtuh bulan lalu di dekat ibukota Bangladesh, Dhaka.
Tim penyelamat saat ini menarik 94 mayat dari reruntuhan dari delapan lantai Rana Plaza - yang memproduksi pakaian untuk dipasarkan di Eropa dan Amerika.
Bencana industri di Savar memicu protes massa, dengan banyak pekerja mengklaim mereka dipaksa bekerja oleh pemilik meskipun retakan besar muncul di gedung.
Tim penyelamat berencana untuk mengakhiri operasi penyelamatan, Jumat (10/5) sebelum buldoser bergerak untuk menggeser reruntuhan.
Bangladesh memiliki salah satu industri garmen terbesar di dunia tetapi menghadapi kecaman berulang terutama upah rendah dan kondisi pabrik yang rentan terhadap bagi keselamatan pekerja."
Bahkan Rabu malam, setidaknya delapan orang tewas dalam kebakaran yang melanda sebuah pabrik rajutan di dekat Dhaka.
Sejumlah pejabat - termasuk pemilik Rana Plaza - telah ditahan sejak runtuhnya pabrik dan didakwa menyebabkan kematian karena kelalaian.
A HAUNTING image has emerged of a couple who perished in the Bangladesh factory collapse – clutching each other as they died.
With rubble, dust and metal strewn around, the lifeless woman is seen doubled backwards as the man tenderly wraps his arms around her.
Reams of light-blue clothing material – which would have been made in the garment factory – wrap around the wreckage as a trail of blood runs from the man's eyes.
The heart-wrenching shot of the couple was captured by local photographer Taslima Akhter, who said: “I have tried desperately, but have yet to find any clues about them.
"I don’t know who they are or what their relationship is with each other.
“I spent the entire day the building collapsed on the scene, watching as injured garment workers were being rescued from the rubble.
“I remember the frightened eyes of relatives — I was exhausted both mentally and physically.
“Around 2am, I found a couple embracing each other in the rubble.
"The lower parts of their bodies were buried under the concrete. The blood from the eyes of the man ran like a tear.
“When I saw the couple, I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I knew them — they felt very close to me.
Taslima added: “Every time I look back to this photo, I feel uncomfortable — it haunts me.
"It’s as if they are saying to me, we are not a number — not only cheap labor and cheap lives. We are human beings like you.”
More than 900 people are now known to have died – with around 2,500 people injured – in last month's collapse of the factory near Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
Rescuers today pulled 94 bodies from the ruins of the eight-storey Rana Plaza – where some of the clothes were made for Western retailers.
The industrial catastrophe in Savar sparked mass protests, with many workers claiming they were forced to work by the owners despite huge cracks appearing in the building.
Rescuers plan to wrap up their operation tomorrow before bulldozers move in to shift the rubble.
Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world but has faced repeated criticism over low pay and its factories’ often dangerous working conditions.
Even last night, at least eight people were killed in a fire that swept through a knitwear plant in nearby Dhaka.
A number of officials – including the Rana Plaza's owner – have been arrested since the factory collapse and charged with causing deaths by negligence.
