Credit: Viral Press via Reuters Connect
A Chinese-backed contractor is facing an investigation over the collapse of a 33-floor skyscraper in Bangkok in 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 800 miles from the Thai capital.
But despite the skyline of the megacity being dotted with cranes, no other construction site reported similar collapses.
Eight bodies have so far been recovered from the ruins of the skyscraper, with an estimated 50 people still missing.
Rescuers at the site of the collapsed skyscraper, where all that was left was a mountain of rubble and dust – Ann Wang/Reuters
In Myanmar, there was massive destruction, with the death toll already surpassing 1,600. It’s likely the tip of the iceberg, with modelling by the US Geological Survey suggesting fatalities could top 10,000.
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,” Prof 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.”
As the search for possible survivors went on in the rubble of the building, emotions ran high among people waiting for news at the site – Mailee Osten-Tan/Getty Images
After visiting the site on Saturday, Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand’s deputy prime minister, said that 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 two billion Thai baht (about £45 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 per cent of shares – the maximum stake foreign entities can hold in a Thai company.
The Telegraph contacted the company, but has not received a response. There is no concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
Work to try to find survivors and the bodies of victims continued throughout Saturday – Patipat Janthong/Reuters
But the Ministry of Industry said it had sent an inspection team to explore, amongst 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.
People in Bangkok wait anxiously for news of the rescue operation – Mailee Osten-Tan/Getty Images
“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.”
Ms Pat last spoke to the pair at 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 Prof Suchatchavee. “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 nationality, but if we find out, they have to take responsibility.”
