Anxiousness turns into desperation as families await news of missing workers

Bangkok: When the earthquake that hit Myanmar sent its tremors to Thailand, Naruemon Thonglek didn’t immediately know it also had collapsed a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok.

Seeing images of the debris on television news later, Naruemon immediately recognised the building where her long-time Burmese partner, his son and four of her friends had worked for the past month.

“My legs gave up. I lost all strength in my hands,” she said. “After the quake stopped I called him, messaged him, but there was no response. I couldn’t contact him. I sent him voice messages and he never read it. Then I knew for sure that he must have been inside.”

At least 18 people died in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, more than 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) from the centre of the magnitude 7.7 quake in Myanmar on Friday, which killed more than 1,700 people there.

In Bangkok, 78 people remain missing. Thai authorities are racing against time to find anyone left alive under the ruins as the crucial 72-hour mark passes. While the authorities have said they detected possible sounds of life, so far only one person was pulled alive from the rubble.

Tavida Kamolvej, Bangkok’s deputy governor, told reporters at the site Monday that crews are speeding up the search.

“Every second really counts,” she said.

Among those missing are the mother and younger sister of Chanpen Kaewnoi, who had been working at the site for a couple of months.

Chanpen said she couldn’t contact them after the quake, but later was told by a survivor that they had been on the fifth floor of the 30-story building.

“He told me that they ran from the fifth floor, and once he reached the ground, the building just collapsed,” she said. “He said he couldn’t find my mom and my sister. He said it was just a split second and he lost them.”

Naruemon said her partner, Kyi Tan, and the other five were assigned to work much higher up on the 26th floor. While her partner had extensive construction experience, this was his first high-rise project. As he left home on the morning of the quake, he said he would stay late in the hope of finishing his work by the end of the month.

Naruemon and Chanpen said they never heard their family members raise safety concerns while working at the building.

The authorities said they are investigating the cause of the building collapse as criticisms and concerns grow over safety and quality standards of Bangkok buildings.

Chadchart Sittipunt, the city governor, has ordered a blanket inspection of all high-rise buildings in the capital.

Videos of the collapse show the building, which was meant to be a new State Audit Office, shaking a little before tumbling to the ground, sending a huge plume of dust into the sky as people scream

and run away.