An excavator removes debris as volunteers and rescue workers search the site of the garment factory complex which collapsed on April 24. Bangladeshi rescuers have pulled a woman alive from the ruins of a garment factory complex which collapsed and killed more than 1,000 people on April 24, footage broadcast live on television shows. The woman, wearing a violet dress, was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. The rescue came shortly after emergency officials announced that the woman, called Reshmi, had been located under the rubble of the nine-storey Rana Plaza complex after crying out for help, 17 days after the disaster on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. The collapse killed more than 1,000 people.One of the rescuers said that the woman had cried out for help as recovery teams sifted through the wreckage. "As we were clearing rubble, we called out if anyone was alive," the unnamed rescuer told the private Somoy TV channel. Then we heard her saying 'please save me, please save me'. Since then she has been talking to us. Army officials ordered workers to stop clearing the site with bulldozers and cranes as they tried to free the woman. Rescuers used a handsaw as well as welding and drilling equipment to cut through the iron rod and debris trapping her. They asked for a small oxygen cylinder to be brought to the site. As she was freed from the rubble the crowd gathered at the scene erupted in cheers. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated rescue workers, her special assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil said in a phone interview. Garment factories in Bangladesh are facing increased scrutiny after the collapse at Rana Plaza, the country's worst industrial disaster, and a November fire that claimed 112 lives. Last month's tragedy prompted the government to shut factories and an overseas retailer to stop accepting clothing from the country.