Search for survivors in collapsed Bangkok Building

Electrician helper Aubonrat Setnawet was working with her husband on the 23rd floor of a new office tower at the northern tip of Bangkok before the disaster occurred.

She had to get some equipment, so she took the construction elevator to the first floor. Suddenly she felt the ground sway under her, and the sound of two sharp cracks began to crumble the unfinished building.

With her phone in hand, she ran to escape the falling debris as the giant cloud of dust rose. She tried to call her husband Nugui Setnawet, an electrician, but her phone didn't go through.

Since then, she has remained there and quietly watched rescuers search for survivors. The news was tough. Eight bodies were recovered from the scene on Friday, but only one on Saturday.

“I'm still waiting here, waiting for a miracle,” Aubonratt said.

Approximately 80 people, believed to have been in the 30-storey building at the time of the collapse, remain undecided.

Rescuers using heavy machinery and dog search teams discovered only one body during Saturday's search. The seven-storey mountain of tile rubs is so unstable that it took hours to recover.

It brought Bangkok's known deaths to 10 from Quake, including a crane operator who fell into his death from another building under construction.

The epicenter of the earthquake was over 600 miles north near Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, where devastation was far worse. More than 1,600 people have been reported to have died, and the number is expected to rise significantly.

The search continued into the evening in bright light at the grounds of the collapsed Bangkok building. The heavy machinery operator moved a large chunk of metal from the tile rub in the hopes of finding a survivor.

Hundreds of rescuers from the military, police and volunteer groups helped them search. Dozens of relatives and friends of the missing workers looked from behind the barrier.

In addition to the search dog, the rescue team tried to use heat sensors to detect people still alive.

Regularly, all work was stopped, allowing searchers to hear the survivors. But by Saturday evening, they had not heard the cry of help from within the pile of shards.

Piyalux Thinkaew, a rescuer with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation, said workers had tried carefully to prevent the pile of wreckage from destabilizing while heavy machinery arrived Saturday was being used to clean up large metal and concrete.

“This is to pave the way for us to look down and see the signs of life,” he said. “It's a very difficult job and a dangerous job for rescuers too.”

Suchatvee Suwansawat, a professor of civil engineering at King Moncoot University and former president of the Thai Engineers Council, said experts must determine whether the collapse was caused by a design flaw or construction error.

Unfinished buildings should not be at risk of collapse during an earthquake than completed structures, he said.

“It must be 100% safe,” he said. “There was something wrong. It's like an explosion of a building. Not normal.”

He said Thailand has never experienced the collapse of a building of this size. Previously, two six-storey buildings collapsed, one in 2014 and the other in 1993.

“We really have no experience with this,” he said. “I can't say much yet because I have to look at the calculations and collect samples and evidence. Everything fell apart at the same time. From the video, the columns burst.”

The building was to become the office tower of the auditors in Bangkok.

China Railway's 10th Engineering Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, was part of a consortium awarded a contract to build a skyscraper, according to an article by People's Daily, the Communist Party of China mouthpiece published in 2021.

Neither company could immediately contact us for comment.

The project, which broke the ground in April 2021, is one of the tallest buildings built by the 10th Engineering Group of China Railway, people said at the time.

The company is a subsidiary of the state-owned giant, China Railway Group, and is deeply involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative. This is a global infrastructure project aimed at deepening China's supply chain network and expanding the country's impact.

The site awaits the words of his missing relatives on the site is 36-year-old Siphon Tongsuk, who was working in an office tower with his aunt, uncle and two adult children.

They worked on another construction project on the outskirts of Bangkok, but recently they were sent to the site due to urgent need for workers, she said.

“I don't know how long they worked here,” she said. “I just know they worked on the top floor.”

Naruemol Thonglek, 44, came to the site for the words of six, including her husband, son and four colleagues.

Narémor also worked for the site until recently, but left because she was worried that her husband might be too tired.

“I immediately rushed here when I heard about the earthquake,” she said. “I tried to get him. No messages were delivered. The phone was not connected.

She continued, “I think he's in the middle of a mountain of tile rubs. Maybe there's room for the air, I don't know. I can expect miracles.”

Thurian Pheungrod, 47, was rushing to the site Friday after learning that his brother and sister-in-law were buried in a collapsed building. They worked at the site for several months.

“At first I believed there was still a miracle,” he said. “I still had hope, but I don't expect any miracles anymore.”

Berry Wang and David Pearson contributed to the report from Hong Kong.