Cranes Begin Clearing Bangladesh Building Collapse

Bangladeshi rescue workers carry the body of a dead garment worker after it was retrieved from

 a building that collapsed on Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 28, 2013.

Workers in Bangladesh have begun using heavy equipment to clear the site of a factory complex outside the capital, Dhaka, where hundreds of people died when the building collapsed Wednesday.

Crews began clearing the wreckage in earnest Monday after days of search-and-rescue efforts with hand tools, and after a fire that ended the likelihood anyone else would turn up alive in the rubble.  At least 380 people known to have perished in the building.  The death toll is expected to rise as hundreds of people are believed to be missing.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the building site on Monday.

On Sunday, police arrested the owner of the factory complex near the border with India. Mohammed Sohel Rana had been missing since the building's collapse Wednesday. Police say Rana and factory managers ignored official warnings for people to evacuate the building after inspectors found cracks in it during an inspection Tuesday.

Rana's arrest came a day after authorities took two plant bosses and two engineers into custody.  So far, authorities have detained seven people in connection with the collapse.

More than 3,000 people were in the building when it collapsed.

Garment workers have been staging street protests in the streets of Dhaka to demand better working conditions and safety standards for the garment industry.

Some workers blame European and American companies for the poor working conditions because the companies demand low-cost goods from the garment manufacturers.   

A fire at another garment factory in Bangladesh killed more than 100 workers in November.