Bangladesh factory collapse death toll soars past 1000 Workers and army personnel use heavy machinery as they work to clear the site and recover bodies of victims from the rubble of a garment factory building collapse. (AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous) Source: AP THE death toll in Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster has soared past 1000 after more bodies were found in the rubble of a collapsed nine-storey building outside the capital Dhaka. Army spokesman Captain Shahnewaz Zakaria told AFP that the "death toll now stands at 1006" as the recovery operation entered its 17th day since the building caved in at Savar town, 30 kilometres south-west of Dhaka. Zakaria said recovery workers armed with "cranes, bulldozers and excavators" had pulled out 130 bodies from the rubble since 6am on Thursday as more bodies were found in the pancaked lower floors. Some of the bodies, which are badly decomposed, could be identified by mobile phones in their pockets or factory identity cards around their necks, he said. Most were female garment workers. A Bangladeshi man holds his sister's portrait as he attempts to identify her among the bodies of those killed in the collapse of the garment factory. Of the bodies recovered so far, "at least 150 bodies were buried in unmarked graves in a state graveyard after they could not be identified," Zakaria added. The authorities are taking DNA samples from all the victims for future compensation claims. More than 3000 garment workers were in the building's five garment factories which made clothing for Western retailers such as Benetton, Mango and Primark when the structure collapsed after a loud bang, trapping them. At least 2437 people have been rescued, around 1000 suffering serious injuries, including scores whose limbs had to be cut off to free them from the rubble. A Bangladeshi woman survivor is lifted out of the rubble by rescuers. AP Photo/Kevin Frayer The building's architect told AFP he designed the structure to house a shopping mall and offices, not factories. Police have arrested 12 people including the plaza's owner and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on April 24, even though cracks appeared in the structure the previous day. Workers and fire fighters are shrouded in smoke as they prepare to dislodge the debris and fallen ceiling of the garment factory building which collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 29. AP Photo/Wong Maye-E The April 24 collapse was the latest in a string of deadly accidents to hit the textile industry. On Thursday, disaster struck again as a fire in another garment factory in the Bangladeshi capital killed eight people including its owner.