A Bangladesh court has ordered the government to confiscate the property of the owner of the collapsed garment factory building in which nearly 400 people died.

Rescue workers in Bangladesh have given up hope of finding any more survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed five days ago and began using heavy machinery to remove the rubble and look for bodies, an official said.

As Bangladesh reels from the deaths of hundreds of garment workers in a building collapse, the refusal of global retailers to pay for nationwide factory inspections is bringing scrutiny to an industry that has profited from a country notorious for its hazardous workplaces and subsistence-level wages.