Workers who escaped fire at Bangladesh garment factory want old jobs back, fear loss of pay

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Major retailers have disavowed the Bangladesh garment factory where 112 workers died in a fire last month, but the survivors of the fire have not. They can't afford to.

Factories like the one gutted Nov. 24 are a rare lifeline in this desperately poor country, and now many of the more than 1,200 surviving employees have no work and few prospects.

Dipa Akter was injured jumping out of a third-story window through a hole made by breaking apart an exhaust fan. But even she wants to get back to her job.

She says that without it she would either be a housemaid or jobless in her home village.

Garment work is one of the few paths in Bangladesh to secure a stable income, collect savings and send money to family.