Andrew Biraj / Reuters

Rescue workers carry a garment worker alive from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sixty-two people were rescued from the ruins of a collapsed Bangladesh factory building late Thursday and early Friday - nearly two days after it collapsed, killing 292 people - according to officials.

A group of 41 people was found alive in what had been a fourth-floor room in the Rana Plaza building, in the Savar suburb of Dhaka, government minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak said, according to Reuters.

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is in charge of the rescue operation, said the death toll had reached 290 and that a total of 2,200 people had been rescued, The Associated Press reported.

It is not clear how many people were inside when the building collapsed, but 3,122 workers were employed there, according to a garment manufacturers’ group, mainly making cheap clothes for Western companies.

There were fears that between 300 and 400 people were still inside. "Some people are still alive under the rubble and we are hoping to rescue them," deputy fire services director Mizanur Rahman said, according to Reuters. Earlier he had admitted that "we can't be certain of getting them all out alive. We are losing a bit of hope."

Cries of people from inside the rubble mixed with the stench of death emanating from the building, the AP reported.

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

Bangladeshi volunteers and rescue workers assist in rescue operations 48 hours after an eight-story building collapsed in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Some of those still trapped have been able to speak to journalists.

"I want to live. It's so painful here,” Mohammad Altab said, according to BBC News. Another man said: "It's hard to remain alive here. It would have been better to die than enduring such pain to live on."

A military official, Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, told reporters that search and rescue operations would continue until at least Saturday, the AP reported.

"We know a human being can survive for up to 72 hours in this situation. So our efforts will continue non-stop," he said.

Anger is growing in Bangladesh over poor safety standards.

The collapse prompted thousands of workers from the hundreds of garment factories across the Savar area to take to the streets in protest, Reuters said.

The AP noted that Bangladesh has among the lowest wages in the world, making it a magnet for numerous global brands.

This has helped make Bangladesh the world's second-largest apparel exporter.

The bulk of exports - 60 percent – go to Europe. The United States takes 23 percent and Canada takes 5 percent, according to Reuters.

Primark, a unit of Associated British Foods, has confirmed one of its suppliers occupied the second floor of the building, the news service said.  Danish retailer PWT Group, which owns the Texman brand, said it had been using a factory in the building for seven years.

Canada's Loblaw, a unit of food processing and distribution firm George Weston Ltd, said one factory made a small number of items for its "Joe Fresh" label, Reuters reported. Primark, Loblaw and PWT operate under codes of conduct aimed at ensuring products are made in good working conditions.

Police told Reuters that the owner of the building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, a local politician from the ruling Awami League, was told of dangerous cracks on Tuesday and was now on the run.

While a bank in the building closed on Wednesday because of the warnings, the five clothing companies told their workers there was no danger, industry officials told Reuters.

"We asked the garment owners to keep it closed," Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Mohammad Atiqul Islam said.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Related:

Images: Desperate search for survivors

Many still trapped in Bangladesh factory rubble as death toll surpasses 250

This story was originally published on Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:21 AM EDT

ROME -- The Italian coast guard rescued almost 500 migrants crammed into five small inflatable boats off the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean Sea after receiving distress calls overnight, the coast guard said on Thursday.

Coast guard spokesman Marco di Milla said the migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, included some pregnant women and several people in need of hospital treatment.

"They were in inflatable boats of a maximum of 10 meters [33 feet] long, which can carry about 10 people safely. Instead, these boats were carrying up to 100 people," di Milla told Reuters. He said the boats had likely started their journey in the North African state of Libya.

Most of the migrants were taken to Lampedusa, a tiny island south of Sicily that receives thousands of immigrants each year.

Improved spring weather conditions have increased the numbers trying to make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean, but thousands have died due to shipwrecks, harsh conditions and a lack of food and water.

An estimated 1,500 migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean in 2011, many of them trying to escape the turmoil caused by the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa, according to Human Rights Watch. It estimated the death toll in 2012 at more than 300.

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Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Rescue workers carry a woman who was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in Mumbai, 36 hours after it fell to the ground "like a pack of cards."

MUMBAI -- The death toll from a collapsed building in India's financial center Mumbai rose to 72 on Saturday, as an injured woman trapped for 36 hours was freed from the rubble of the illegal and half-constructed building.

Rescue workers using cranes and bulldozers continued to search through the wreck of twisted steel and concrete after the seven-storey building collapsed "like a pack of cards" on Thursday evening, officials and witnesses said.

A shortage of cheap homes in Asia's third-largest economy has led to a rise in illegal construction by developers who use substandard materials and shoddy methods in order to offer rock-bottom rents to low-paid workers.

"The building collapsed like a pack of cards within three to four seconds," said Ramlal, a resident. "It just tilted a bit and collapsed," he said. Residents said laborers paying rent of around $5 a day had lived in the building.

The building, which was in a forested area in the city of Thane, had been made using poor materials and without proper approvals, said Sandeep Malvi, a spokesman for licensing authority the Thane Municipal Corporation.

He said 72 people had been killed and 36 injured had been admitted into local hospitals. "There may still be more bodies inside," Malvi added. "The rescue is still going on."

As the sun rose on Saturday, around 100 workers from the national disaster relief agency continued to use jackhammers and other equipment to cut through the pile of metal and concrete.

The woman dragged from the building on Saturday was found after workers heard her voice and used camera equipment to pinpoint her location under the rubble. A 10-month old infant was pulled from the debris on Friday.

Police said they were searching for the builders and would charge them with culpable homicide in connection with the disaster.

"Unauthorized constructions are a product of unavailability of affordable housing," said Lalit Kumar Jain, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India.

A sharp rise in property prices in densely populated Mumbai over the past five years has put housing out of reach for tens of thousands of lower earners, many of whom moved to the city in search of jobs, and who now sleep on the streets or in slums.

In 2012, India's urban housing shortage was estimated at nearly 19 million households, according to a report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

Related:

Dozens killed after building collapses near Mumbai

Rafiq Maqbool / AP

Rescue workers look for trapped people after a residential building collapsed in Thane, Mumbai, India, Thursday, April 4, 2013.

At least 39 people were killed and dozens injured after an illegal, half-constructed building collapsed in seconds "like a pack of cards" on the outskirts of India's financial centre Mumbai, officials and witnesses said.

Rescue workers using cranes and bulldozers searched for survivors in the wreck of steel and concrete on Friday after the seven-storey building crumbled on Thursday night. Residents said laborers paying rent of around $5 a day had lived in it.

"The building collapsed like a pack of cards within three to four seconds," said Ramlal, a local resident. "It just tilted a bit and collapsed," he said. Read the full story.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rescue workers carry a woman who survived from the collapsed building.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Rescue workers search for survivors at the site of the collapsed building.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rescue workers carry a child who survived the collapse of a residential building in Thane.

Divyakant Solanki / EPA

Rescue work continued at the site of the building collapse on April 5, 2013.

AP

Rescue workers carry a young child who survived the building collapse on Friday, April 5, 2013.

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 4, 2013 5:39 PM EDT

POLKOWICE, Poland -- Nineteen miners were pulled alive and well from a copper mine in southern Poland on Wednesday after a small earthquake trapped them almost 2,000 feet below the surface late Tuesday.

It took seven hours to tunnel through collapsed rock to reach the miners, who were working at the Rudna copper mine in southern Poland when a small tremor trapped them there at 10:09 p.m. local time (5:09 p.m. ET) on Tuesday.

Agencja Gazeta / Reuters

Families react to the news Wednesday that 19 miners were rescued after a small earthquake trapped them some 2,000 feet below the surface at the Rudna copper mine in southern Poland.

Two were treated for minor injuries, while the others, shaken up and covered with grime after a grueling night, were on their way home.

Families of the miners, who gathered near the site, cheered when the mine's operator, KGHM, announced that all 19 were alive and were slowly being taken out through a hole dug by the rescuers.

"This was the biggest accident in KGHM history," chief executive Herbert Wirth told Reuters. "Never in our history has it happened that 19 miners were trapped with no contact."

The Rudna mine is about 250 miles southwest of the Polish capital, Warsaw.

Kacper Pempel / Reuters, file

KGHM Polkowice-Sieroszowice copper ore mine is seen in Polkowice in this July 29, 2011, file photo. Nineteen miners were trapped there Tuesday night after an earthquake caused a collapse. All were saved.

After the quake on Tuesday, workers on the surface lost contact for several hours with the trapped miners because communication lines into the shafts had been severed.

The mine is in the Silesia region, near Poland's borders with Germany and the Czech Republic. It has been in operation since 1974. State-controlled KGHM is Europe's second-biggest copper producer.

Poland has large numbers of mines, mostly in the heavily industrialized Silesia region. In 2006, a gas explosion at a coal mine in the region killed 23 miners.

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Adrian Dennis / AFP / Getty Images file

Prince William is pictured during his training at airbase RAF Cranwell in January 2008.

He may not have come riding in on a white horse, but this prince still came to the rescue, albeit on a different steed altogether.

On Tuesday, Prince William swooped in to help save a pair of hikers via helicopter after the two were reported missing earlier this week while trekking the mountainous north Wales region of Snowdonia.

Per British media reports, the unidentified hikers, who were in their 40s and 50s, made their way to the area's Glyder range but were forced to camp out there on Monday — where freezing temperatures could prove life-threatening — after lacking the necessary gear to get them off the mountain before nightfall.

Prince William saves schoolgirls in helicopter sea rescue

The two had promised to phone a friend with an update during their trip, but when the call never came, authorities were alerted and a search party was dispatched.

The pair were eventually found by a mountain rescue team aided by rescue dogs, and William and his helicopter crew arrived to take them to safety.

Consider it yet another heroic feather in the royal's increasingly be-feathered cap: Duchess Kate's hubby, who is a trained pilot with the RAF Search and Rescue Force, has been putting those chopper skills to essential use. Over the last six months, he's participated no fewer than four rescue missions, including saving shipwrecked Russians in the Irish Sea and schoolgirls stranded off the Welsh coast.

Looks like this is one prince whose duties to his people transcend mere ceremonial pomp and pageantry. 

More:

• Prince William leads rescue attempt at sea
• Prince Harry dances with kids, wears teddy bear apron on Africa tour
• Video: Duchess Kate shows off bump, returns to charity work
• Princess Diana's iconic gowns up for sale

John Kolesidis / Reuters

A woman is rescued from floodwaters by a man standing on top of her car during heavy rain in the Chalandri suburb, north of Athens, Greece, on Feb. 22, 2013.

John Kolesidis / Reuters

The woman had become stuck as water engulfed her car.

John Kolesidis / Reuters

The woman is carried to safety after being rescued.

Pantelis Saitas / EPA

An employee of the Greek Parliament hangs precariously after falling through the glass roof of the Greek Parliament Hall while trying to prevent rain water leaking into the building, in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

Simela Pantzartzi / EPA

People stand on a bench at a bus station during a heavy storm in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

A heavy rainstorm in the Athens region on Friday morning flooded streets in the Greek capital and interrupted transport on land and sea. In the suburb of Chalandri, a woman had to be rescued from her car as raging torrents of water engulfed the vehicle.

A worker at the Greek parliament had to be rescued after she crashed through the glass roof of the building while trying to stop a leak. The woman found herself hanging through a broken panel in the roof and was slightly injured, according to local reports cited by Xinhua.

-- The European Pressphoto Agency and Reuters contributed to this report

Al-Kataib Media / MAXPPP via EPA

This undated TV grab of footage by Al-Kataib Media shows Denis Allex, a French agent held by Somali militants.

Updated at 3:40 p.m. ET: PARIS/MOGADISHU - A French intelligence officer held hostage in Somalia since 2009 was killed along with at least one other soldier during a botched rescue attempt by French troops on Friday night, the French Defense Ministry said Saturday.

"Commandos broke into where Allex was being detained last night and immediately faced strong resistance," Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters.

Another commando is missing.

The deaths in Somalia coincided with the killing of a pilot in air strikes in Mali, however, striking a double blow to the start of a campaign that represents President Francois Hollande's biggest foreign policy test since his May election.

Adding confusion to the fallout of the agent's rescue effort, the Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen insurgent group holding Denis Allex said in a statement that he was still alive and being held at a location far from the base where French military helicopters attacked overnight.

The insurgent group said that the injured French commando "is now in the custody of the mujahideen."

"Several French soldiers were killed in the battle and many more were injured before they fled from the scene of battle, leaving behind some military paraphernalia and even one of their comrades on the ground," they said in the statement.

French Army chief Admiral Edouard Guillaud did not confirm whether this was true: "If he is alive then he could be, but he could also be hiding," he told reporters.

Both sides described a fierce firefight during the raid on the Horn of Africa country that France said was carried out by France's external intelligence agency for which Allex worked.

A Somali official in Bula Mareer, about 75 miles south of Mogadishu, said French helicopters attacked overnight.

"Helicopters attacked al Shabaab at 2.00 a.m. this morning. Two civilians died in the crossfire," said Ahmed Omar Mohamed, deputy chairman for lower Shabelle region.

An al Shabaab official who asked not to be named said they exchanged fire with French commandos. "Three helicopters dropped French commandos. We exchanged fire," the official said.

'Inhumane conditions'
Allex was one of two officers from his intelligence agency kidnapped by al Shabaab in Mogadishu in July 2009. His colleague, Marc Aubriere, escaped a month later but Allex had been held ever since in what Paris called "inhumane conditions."

The ministry said he was kidnapped while carrying out an aid mission with the Somali government. France has previously said the two men were in the Somali capital to train local forces.

A video of Allex pleading with Hollande to negotiate his release and save his life appeared on a website in October used by Islamist militant groups around the world. Reuters could not verify its authenticity.

Hollande said at the time the government was seeking to start talks with any party able to facilitate Allex's release.

After his abduction, al Shabaab issued a series of demands, which included an end to French support for the Somali government and the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers, whose 17,600-strong troops are helping battle the rebels.

Under pressure from the peacekeeping troops and Somali government forces, al Shabaab has lost many of its major urban strongholds in south-central Somalia since it launched a rebellion against the Western-backed government in 2007.

The rebels, who want to impose their strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, across the Horn of Africa state, withdrew from the capital Mogadishu in August last year and lost their last major bastion of Kismayu six weeks ago.

Read more coverage of Somalia from NBC News