43 trapped as Bangkok skyscraper collapses after quake
Bangkok, Thailandmyanmarthailandquakeskyscraper
28 march 2025
A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices collapsed in Bangkok on Friday, trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.
The building in the north of the Thai capital (at ChataChak ) was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake, which had its epicentre in Myanmar.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters at least three workers had been killed, with 81 more trapped inside.
Rescuers were surveying the tangle of rubble and twisted metal for a safe way to search for survivors, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
“I heard people calling for help, saying ‘help me’,” Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bang Sue district, told AFP.
“We estimate that hundreds of people are injured,” he said.
Across Bangkok and the northern tourist destination of Chiang Mai, where the power briefly went out, stunned residents hurried outside, unsure of how to respond to the unusual quake.
“I quickly rushed out of the shop along with other customers,” said Sai, 76, who was working at a minimart in Chiang Ma
“I quickly rushed out of the shop along with other customers,” said Sai, 76, who was working at a minimart in Chiang Mai when the shop started to shake.
“This is the strongest tremor I’ve experienced in my life.”
bur-pdw/pbt
© Agence France-Presse
