Now all five bodies have been recovered, police have to move on to the task of formal identification.

Det Supt Mark Payne of the West Midlands force says the process is not simple.

"Without going into too much detail some of the identification may not be straightforward. DNA or other methods may be used." 

The bodies will be taken to a mortuary in Coventry which, Det Supt Payne says, has the appropriate specialist equipment.    

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

We're bringing you live updates following the death of five men at a metal recycling plant in Nechells yesterday. Here's the latest:

• All five bodies have been recovered 

• Police ask 'is anybody to blame or is this just a tragic accident'?  
• More than £15,000 has been donated by members of the public to the victims' families  
• Friends and family had pleaded with emergency crews to recover bodies quickly
• Collapsed wall's concrete blocks needed drilling due to their size and weight

Rebecca Woods
BBC News Online, Journalist

Up to 50 concerned members of the public - among them the victims' families and friends - had been anxiously waiting outside the site for news of the two bodies yet to be recovered.

They have now been extracted from the rubble.

One man had pleaded with emergency crews to find his brother, saying "please God, take him out". Among onlookers' concerns was that the men needed to be buried quickly in line with the Islamic faith.

"We feel helpless," one person in the crowd told me earlier. "We have nowhere else to go."

All five bodies have now been recovered.

The first two were recovered yesterday evening and a third earlier today.

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

Police have launched a full investigation to determine how five men died at a metal recycling site in Nechells yesterday morning.

Detective Superintendent Mark Payne said: "We're launching a full investigation which will include 'is anybody to blame or is this just a tragic accident? Are there criminal matters? Are there matters for the Health and Safety Executive'?"

He added: "We will explore all the facts and we are working for a conclusion as to whether this is a matter for a prosecution or whether it was just a tragic accident."

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

Donations have soared to £14k in the past hour, external for the family of those killed in Nechells yesterday.

Image source, Just Giving

Individual donations range from £5 to £100 and there's been a surge over the last three hours in which the total has doubled.

The online donations page has been set up by the Lord Mayor's Charity Appeal and the Birmingham Mail.

One person who donated wrote on the webpage: "Sincere condolences at this tragic time. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with you and your families."

The recovery operation is having to juggle three demands, according to West Midlands Fire Service.

Simon Hardiman, head of fire safety, said: "We understand it's a difficult situation for everyone involved but we have to ensure the safety of our crews and balance against the dignity of those involved and the investigation as to what's happened here."

Three of five bodies have been recovered and Mr Hardiman said the operation to reclaim the rest from the rubble was "in the final stages".

He added: "We're working alongside police colleagues to gather forensic evidence as we move through the scene."

A number of practical difficulties are affecting the recovery operation.

People gathered at the recycling plant in Birmingham where five men died have appealed for the bodies to be recovered and buried quickly - in accordance with Islam.

Among the many people gathered here are friends of Alimamo Jammeh, named locally as among the five killed. His car - a blue Renault Clio - is still parked outside the plant.

"He was a very hard working man," one friend said.

Elizabeth Glinka
BBC Midlands Today

A third body has been recovered from tonnes of metal and concrete after a wall collapsed at a recycling plant in Birmingham. 

Five workers were killed when it came down yesterday morning at Hawskewood Metal Recycling in Nechells. 

Our reporter Sarah Falkland will join us live on BBC One at 13:30 with the latest developments.

A man who owns the Aston flat where Alimamo Jammeh was staying says the married father was excited about moving to bigger premises to accommodate his family who were coming to the UK to live with him.

Mr Jammeh is said locally to be among the five wall collapse victims  

Gulbahar Khan said: "He was very happy and saying 'I want my children with me'."'

Image source, Lang Dampha

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

We're bringing you live updates on the death of five men at a metal recycling plant in Nechells. Here's a roundup of today's developments:

• A third body has been recovered
• Emergency services resumed efforts to recover the remaining bodies this morning
• Crews hope to have all bodies recovered by the end of the day
• Victim's brother pleaded with emergency services: "Please God, take him out"
• The five are believed to be Spanish nationals of Gambian origin and have been named locally  
• All are said to have been married with children
• More than £6,000 has been raised by the Birmingham Mail for the victims' families

The five dead, Spanish nationals originally from Gambia, were working to clean out a metal storage bay when a 15ft wall collapsed on them. They'd been employed by a recruitment agency.

In addition to Alimamo Kinteh-Jammeh and Bangaly Dukureh about whom we've been telling you this morning, members of Birmingham's Gambian community have named the other three as Saibo Sillah, Ousman Jabbie and Mohammed Jangana. All five are said to have been married with children.

Rebecca Woods
BBC News Online, Journalist

Families and friends of the victims stood among reporters as West Midlands Fire Service gave a news conference outside the recycling plant.

Three bodies have now been recovered.

One man asked: "When will the bodies be taken out, will it definitely be today?"

Area Commander Ben Brook replied: "We anticipate it will be today. This is a painstaking operation."

Rebecca Woods
BBC News Online, Journalist

A third body has been recovered from the Nechells recycling plant, area commander for West Midlands Fire Service, Ben Brook, tells me.

Two bodies are still buried under concrete and metal. Crews have been drilling into heavy concrete blocks in order to remove them and get to the bodies trapped underneath.

A brother of one of the men who died in Nechells has pleaded with police officers to recover his body.

Boubakaray Sera said: "Please God, take him out," adding he was the "only one left" after the death of sibling, Bangaly Dukureh.

He said of his brother: "He was very healthy, there was nothing wrong with him. Then one day he came here and he's dead."

Officers continue to work to recover three bodies. Two were removed from rubble yesterday evening.  

Lang Dampha, from Aston, says he knows two of the men who have been killed.

One is Alimamo Kinteh-Jammeh, aged in his 40s. He was married with children and his family had been due to travel to the UK so they could live here together. On the day he died, he was to collect keys for a new property.

Mr Dampha (pictured) said: "I was working and I got a call, and they said 'five of our guys have died'. I can't believe it."

Image source, PA

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

Donations to the Birmingham Mail's online page raising money to support the families of the five men killed in Nechells, external has more than doubled in a couple of hours.

More than £4,600 has been raised, with a further £1k donated offline by the newspaper's charity fund.

Image source, Just Giving

Rebecca Woods
BBC News Online, Journalist

After 24 hours of waiting for news, tensions are running high at Hawkeswood Metal. A dozen men are waiting for news of their loved ones.

One of them broke down in tears, begging police and fire officers for information.

"This is killing me. My brother is there. I don't know nothing," he said to the workers.

He and other relatives have now been taken behind the cordon where they are being briefed on how the recovery operation is progressing.