Bangladesh rescuers confirm they have freed survivor of building collapse after 17 days

A woman has been found alive trapped in the rubble of the Bangladesh clothing factory, 17 days after the disaster that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

Rescuers found the woman, named Reshma, after hearing groaning coming from the basement of the eight-storey Rana Plaza.

Incredibly, she did not have significant injuries and has been given biscuits and water by rescuers before being taken to hospital. They were preparing to break a large slab with heavy machinery when the 'miracle' took place.

A rescuer said: 'As we made an announcement before starting to break the slab asking whether there was anyone alive in there, we heard someone groan.'

She waved a hand before telling them 'in a feeble voice' her name was Reshma and that she was 'not much hurt'.

Following a delicate operation lasting around 40 minutes, there were wild cheers from the crowd of rescuers and onlookers as she was lifted freed.

Wearing a violet dress, she was carried out by hand before being taken away in an ambulance.

The death toll from the accident, which has become the world's worst industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984, has climbed above 1,000 and more bodies might still be trapped inside.

Army officials ordered workers to stop clearing the site with bulldozers and cranes as they tried to free the woman they said might still be alive.

A soldier at the scene said rescuers found a woman in the debris and she waved her hand in response to them.

Rescuers used a handsaw as well as welding and drilling equipment to try to cut through the iron rod and debris trapping her. They asked for a small oxygen cylinder to be brought to the site.

Hundreds of people, who had been engaged in the grim job of removing decomposing bodies from the site, raised their hands together to pray for the woman to be freed alive.

A man on a loudspeaker shouted: 'Allah, you are the greatest, you can do anything. Please allow us all to rescue the survivor just found.'

'We seek apology for our sins. Please pardon us, pardon the person found alive,' he said.

Abdur Razzak, a warrant officer with the military's engineering department who spotted her in the wreckage, said she was OK and could even walk.

Bodies are still being pulled from the rubble of the Rana Plaza complex, and on Friday a spokesman at the army control room coordinating the operation said the number of people confirmed to have been killed had reached 1,038.

The workers there made clothes for familiar High Street brands including Primark and Matalan in the UK, and Spanish label Mango.

A series of deadly incidents at factories have focused global attention on safety standards in Bangladesh's booming garment industry.

Eight people were killed in a fire at a factory this week, which an industry association said on Friday may have been started deliberately.

Roughly 2,500 people were rescued from Rana Plaza, in the industrial suburb of Savar, around 20 miles (30 km) northwest of Dhaka, including many injured, but there is no official estimate of the numbers still missing.

The disaster, believed to have been triggered when generators were started up during a blackout, has put the spotlight on Weste retailers who use the impoverished South Asian nation as a source of cheap goods.