Electrician assistant Aubonrat Setnawet is working with her husband on the 23rd floor of the new office building on the northern edge of Bangkok before the disaster.
She needed to buy some equipment, so she took the construction elevator to the ground floor. Suddenly, she felt the ground swaying her, and there were two sharp sounds, and the unfinished building began to collapse.
She held her cell phone in her hand, and as the huge cloud of dust rose, she ran to escape the falling debris. She tried to call her husband Nuguy Setnawet (electrician), but her phone failed.
She has been staying on the scene since then, watching the rescuers search for survivors. The news is serious. Eight bodies were found from the scene on Friday, but only one was on Saturday.
“I’m still waiting here, waiting for a miracle,” Ms. Auburat said.
About 80 people were believed to have been in a 30-storey building at the time of the collapse.
Rescuers used heavy equipment and the dog search team to find only one body during Saturday's search. A pile of rubble – seven stories high – was so unstable that it took them hours to recover.
This makes the number of known deaths in Bangkok among 10 earthquakes, including a crane operator who died from another building he built.
The earthquake's center is more than 600 miles north of Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay, where the damage is much worse. More than 1,600 deaths were reported, and that number is expected to increase significantly.
At the location of the collapsed Bangkok building, the search continues to move into the evening under the bright lights. Heavy equipment operators moved large chunks of metal from the rubble in an attempt to find the survivors.
Hundreds of rescue workers from the military, police and volunteer groups helped conduct the search. Dozens of missing workers' relatives and friends watch from behind the obstacles.
In addition to searching dogs, the rescue team also uses thermal sensors to detect those who are still alive.
Periodically, all work stops, so the searcher can listen to the survivors. But by Saturday night, they hadn't heard any help from the Debris Mountain.
Piyalux Thinkaew, a rescue worker at Ruamkatanyu Foundation, said heavy equipment arrived on Saturday was used to clean up large metal and concrete, while workers tried carefully to not destroy the mountain of debris.
“It's a road for us to see and check the signs of life below,” he said. “It's a very difficult task and it's also a risky job for rescuers.”
Suchatvee Suwansawat, a professor of civil engineering at King Mongolia University and former president of the Thai Engineers Committee, said experts must determine whether the collapse was caused by a design defect or a construction error.
He said the danger of unfinished buildings should collapse during an earthquake is no longer a complete structure.
“It has to be 100% safe,” he said. “Some problems. It's like a building exploded. It's not normal.”
He said Thailand has never experienced the collapse of a building of this size. He said that before, two six-story buildings collapsed, one collapsed in 2014 and 1993.
“We really have no experience,” he said. “We can't say much yet, because we have to look at the calculations and collect samples and evidence. Everything collapsed at the same time. From the video, we see the column breaking.”
The building will be the officer tower of the Bangkok Auditor General.
According to an article in People's Daily (the remarks of the Communist Party of China), the consortium released it in 2021. The consortium also includes an Italian-Thai development project based in Bangkok.
Neither company can comment immediately.
The People's Daily said at the time that the project broke ground in April 2021 and is one of the tallest buildings organized by China's 10th Project.
The company is a subsidiary of state-owned giant China Railway Group, which is heavily involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure project designed to deepen China’s supply chain network and expand the country’s reach.
Among those waiting for their missing relatives on the scene were Saifon Thongsuk, 36, whose aunt, uncle and two adult children, all worked in the office building.
She said they have been working on another construction project in the outskirts of Bangkok but were recently taken to the site due to the urgent need of workers.
“I don't know how long they've been here,” she said. “I just know they're working on the top level.”
Naruemol Thonglek, 44, came to the site to seek news from six people, including her husband, his son and four colleagues.
Ms. Naruemol also worked on the spot until recently, but quit because her husband was worried that it would exhaust her.
“I rushed here after hearing the earthquake,” she said. “I tried to catch him. There was no message delivered. The phone was not connected. I couldn't contact either.”
She continued: “I think he is in the middle of that pile of rubble. Maybe there is some air space, I don't know. I can only hope for a miracle.”
Thurian Pheungrod, 47, also arrived on Friday after learning that his brother and sister son were buried in a collapsed building. They have been working on the site for several months.
“At first, I still believe there could be a miracle,” he said. “I still have hope. But I don't want miracles anymore.”
Berry Wang and David Pierson Contributed reports from Hong Kong.
