Sign of life detected at collapsed Bangkok building

Rescuers hope they can save people trapped in a collapsed under-construction State Audit Office building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district after detecting vital signs of 15 people in the rubble on Saturday (10 Oct).

Eight people are confirmed dead and 47 others were unaccounted for and not confirmed as to their identities, said Suriyan Rawiwan, the director of the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department, on Saturday.

Mr Suriyan said rescuers had detected vital signs for 15 people trapped under the 30-storey building. Heavy machinery has been used to clear rubble and navigate rescue teams to the victims.

“Rescue time estimated at 72 hours, as he may have fasted and dehydrated. Victims may suffer shock and death if the rescue takes too long,” he said. The department hopes to complete the rescue within 48 hours. “Someone was under the ruins in groups of three and seven people,” the official said. “The vital signs were detected.”

Mr Suriyan said water and food supplies had not yet arrived in the locations where signs of life were picked up as they are located three metres deep.

Bangkok’s governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, visited the collapsed site on Saturday morning, and said that heavy machinery was being mobilized to clear the way for rescuers. Crane trucks can also lift debris and concrete segments from the site; many are still trapped.

Twelve people were killed after a high-rise building that was under construction on an 11-rai plot on Kamphaeng Phet Road in Chatuchak district in the capital collapsed during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar at about 5.20pm on Friday. Work began on the 2.1-billion-baht compound in 2020, and this had already reached its uppermost floor.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is deploying 130 volunteer engineers to conduct inspections of high-rise buildings in the capital. Roughly 200 buildings must be examined, especially ​in Din Daeng and Huai Khwang districts. Mr Chadchart said two condominium buildings in Lat Phrao must be evacuated due to safety concerns.

The BMA has opened public parks for victims following the earthquake in neighbouring Myanmar, which caused tremors in Bangkok. On Friday night, over 300 people were seeking shelter in the parks, with the governor saying they would stay open for one more night if the weather does not improve.