Garment Industry Says 200 Plants Shut Since Bangladesh Disaster

More than 200 garment factories have shut down in Bangladesh since the country's worst industrial disaster prompted a massive clean-up of the world's second-largest textile sector, an industry group said Thursday.

The closures have cost tens of thousands of jobs and led to a fall in exports, raising worries about the $24.5 billion industry—the key economic mainstay for the impoverished nation of 155 million people.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which represents 4,500 factories and compiled the figures, said the industry was going through a painful transition since the Rana Plaza collapsed in April 2013, killing 1,138 people.