Rescuers in Bangladesh have found a survivor in the rubble of a clothing factory that collapsed 17 days ago.

Bangladeshi television channels broadcast live footage of emergency service workers pulling the woman out from the debris, as onlookers burst into cheers.

The woman, identified only as Reshma, was shown being carried on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance as a rescue worker applied an oxygen mask to her face.

She was discovered in the wreckage of the basement of the building and army officials immediately ordered the cranes and bulldozers to stop work.

They used handsaws to cut through the rubble, as hundreds of people who had been engaged in the grim job of removing decomposing bodies from the site, raised their hands together in prayer.

“Allah, you are the greatest, you can do anything. Please allow us all to rescue the survivor just found,” said a man on a loudspeaker leading the prayers. “We seek apology for our sins. Please pardon us, pardon the person found alive.”

“What’s really remarkable about the story … is that the authorities had said that they were going to call off the search for survivors at the end of today and send the bulldozers in as from tomorrow.

“So, with the clock against them, they heard the remarkable cries for help of this woman who somehow had become trapped between a fallen beam and a column and that somehow gave her some sort of pocketed protection and enabled her to survive for 17 days.”

More than 2,500 people have been rescued in the immediate aftermath of the collapse. However, the death toll has now risen to more than 1,000.

The collapse is already the world’s deadliest garment industry disaster and one of the worst industrial accidents.

The disaster has raised alarm about the often deadly working conditions in Bangladesh’s $20bn (£13bn) garment industry, which provides clothing for major retailers around the globe.

Survivor Rescue Bangladesh Dhaka Video

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