The death toll rises in Myanmar following a massive quake, Nicola Willis is to make a supermarket competitiveness announcement, and house prices are on the rise in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A Chinese-backed contractor is under investigation after a 33-floor skyscraper collapsed in Bangkok during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar.
Eight bodies have been recovered, with 50 people still missing as rescue efforts continue.
Thailand’s government has launched a rapid investigation to determine the cause of the collapse.
A Chinese-backed contractor is facing an investigation after the collapse of a 33-floor skyscraper in Bangkok during Friday’s earthquake.
The unfinished building’s glass facade tumbled to the ground in a heap of smoke and dust, trapping dozens of people in the rubble, when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar, some 1300km from the Thai capital.
New footage shows a Bangkok skyscraper under construction collapsing during today’s 7.7 quake near the Thailand-Myanmar border.
Eight bodies have so far been recovered from the ruins of the skyscraper, with an estimated 50 people still missing.
In Myanmar, there was massive destruction, with the death toll already surpassing 1600.
Rescue workers are seen working at the collapsed construction building in the Chatuchak area of Bangkok on March 28. A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, causing strong tremors that were felt in Bangkok. Photo / Getty Images
As rescue teams in Bangkok toiled in 36C heat to reach other construction workers – whose friends and family gathered nearby in agonising suspense – questions began to circulate about how and why the skyscraper collapsed so quickly.
“Something was wrong, definitely,” Professor Suchatchavee Suwansawas, a civil engineer and politician from the Democrat Party, told the Telegraph.
“You see all other buildings, even high-rise buildings under construction, they’re safe. So either the design was wrong or construction was wrong, but it’s too soon to reach conclusions.”
After visiting the site on Saturday, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the country’s government would launch a rapid investigation to better understand the disaster.
“I’m appointing the investigating committee. I’ve given them seven days to report back as to what’s going on and what caused the falling down,” he told journalists.
The collapsed building belonged to the national audit office and had been under construction for three years, at a reported cost of more than ฿2 billion (about $103 million).
The project was a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development Plc and China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd, according to The Nation, a local news outlet.
The latter company’s largest backer is a Chinese company called China Railway Number 10 Engineering Group Company, which owns 49% of shares – the maximum stake foreign entities can hold in a Thai company.
Thai rescue workers arrive at the scene following the collapse of a high-rise which was still under construction. Photo / Getty Images
The Telegraph contacted the company, but has not received a response. There is no concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
But the Ministry of Industry said it had sent an inspection team to explore, among other things, whether low-quality steel or poor engineering design contributed to the crisis, according to the Thansettakij newspaper.
Some international experts have also pointed to a “flat slab” construction process, in which floors rest directly on columns without beams, and to Bangkok’s soft soil – which may have amplified the shaking of the ground when seismic waves hit.
Meanwhile, the relatives of those trapped inside were in limbo, watching the complicated and agonisingly slow rescue proceed.
There were some reasons for hope: thermal imaging drones deployed to seek signs of life identified at least 15 people may still be alive, officials said. But by Saturday afternoon, optimism was waning.
“I never thought something like this would happen, and now I feel depressed,” Pat Kongporn, whose mother and father are both trapped under the rubble, told the Telegraph. “My parents are hard-working people… they are people who give me love.”
Rescue workers arrive at the site of a collapsed high-rise in Bangkok, Thailand following a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar. Photo / Getty Images
Kongporn last spoke to the pair about 12.30pm on Friday, just before the earthquake hit, and raced to the Thai capital from a city 50 miles north when she could not contact them later.
“I’ve been here since 6pm yesterday,” she said. “I will stay until I know the news, until my parents or their bodies are found.”
Also awaiting information was Ponsak, 29, a construction worker who narrowly escaped being buried in the debris on Friday.
“I [was] so scared and I almost jumped out from the building,” he said, sitting on a red plastic chair as close to the destroyed building as he could get. “I feel guilty that I’m safe, and [I couldn’t] sleep last night because I was worried about other people. I’m still shocked.”
Politicians said a thorough investigation was critical to prevent anything like this happening again.
“Right now, Thailand is at risk of earthquakes, no one can deny it,” said Suwansawas. “We have to find out what is going on so we can come back to change the design, construction, and even the law.”
“It’s too soon to blame anyone or [any] nationality, but if we find out, they have to take responsibility.”
