Bangladesh suspends seven inspectors who failed to check doomed factories

Dhaka: Bangladesh has suspended seven inspectors it accuses of negligence for renewing the licenses of the five garment factories in a building that collapsed in April, killing more than 1,100 people.

Mikail Shipar, the top bureaucrat at the labor ministry, said Monday that a ministry investigation has found that the inspectors never even visited the factories housed in the shabbily built eight-story Rana Plaza building, which collapsed April 24.

Shipar says the ministry's report is preliminary, and that if the accusations are proven the inspectors will lose their jobs.

Shipar says three of the suspended inspectors also were involved in renewing the license of a garment factory where 112 people were killed in a fire in November. He gave no further details.