NDTV Ground Report: "Won't Give Up...", Bangkok Officials Vow To Save Lives

Bangkok authorities may have located one of the 76 people trapped under tons of steel and concrete after a 33-floor building collapsed due to tremors caused by the Myanmar earthquake last week. City officials told NDTV it is unclear if the person is alive, or even if it is a human being and not debris.

The 72-hour window - that critical period of time immediately after a disaster, in which there is the greatest chance of saving lives - expired this morning, but the focus is still on locating survivors and not their bodies. And officials have insisted they will continue to do so for a month.

"We are speeding up the rescue operation... we are still hopeful of finding people and will continue to search for a month," Bangkok Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej told NDTV.

Rushing to and from the collapse site, a bottle of water in her hand, Ms Kamolvej could spare only seconds to talk, such is the intensity with which officials are responding to this disaster.

"We are not going to give up," she said with determination, explaining the '72-hour window' is only a "medical principle" that indicates the highest chances for survival. "But it doesn't mean that after 72 hours there is no survivor... I will stay here for weeks or a month..." she said.

The under-construction 33-floor building belonged to the Thai government.

Around her emergency services personnel run helter-skelter trying to help, each in any way they can. Police vehicles, ambulances, fire engines, and heavy machinery can all be seen.

Meanwhile, another official confirmed to NDTV that international agencies, and United States special forces teams, are already on-ground and helping local relief and rescue efforts.

"Less Than One Per Cent Chance"

The outlook, though, is grim.

City police officials told NDTV Sunday "most of the people are probably dead".

NDTV Exclusive | "Most Victims Probably Dead": Bangkok Police On Collapse

There is a "less than one per cent chance" of finding survivors.

But for Ms Kamolvej and the rescuers, that one per cent is good enough to try.

Bangkok Building Collapse Rescue Efforts

Rescuers have had to factor in weather conditions; it rained overnight in the Thailand capital, and it was overcast Monday morning with more rain predicted all this week.

Robots to create 3D maps of the debris, machinery to move it, and sniffer dogs and thermal imaging drones to locate survivors or, as is increasingly likely, their bodies have been deployed.

The building - terrifying videos of it imploding as the tremors hit began circulating on X minutes after its collapse - is in Bangkok's Chatu Chak market, which is popular with tourists.

Dramatic footage captures the collapse of a 34-story building in Bangkok following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, resulting in at least 10 deaths and 101 missing. pic.twitter.com/fNWzjyZXSt

— AccuWeather (@accuweather) March 28, 2025

When completed - it had been under construction for three years at a reported cost of $59 billion - it was to belong to the Thailand government's State Audit Office.

Bangkok, Myanmar Death Count

The numbers are still uncertain, but a majority of the 18 earthquake-related deaths reported across Bangkok are workers who were caught in its collapse. One of the lucky few who made it out alive was Kyaw Lin Htet, a labourer from Myanmar who told AFP it felt like he "lost consciousness".

Over in the neighbouring country, which took the brunt of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake and where over 1,700 people have died so far, there are similar scenes in Mandalay and other cities.

But, unlike Bangkok, here rescue efforts are winding down, with any hope of finding more survivors fading almost by the second even as locals dig through rubble with their hands.

In one, of all-too-few miraculous incidents, a woman was pulled out alive.

#MyanmarEarthquake2025 “With bare hands, we have saved one”
Civilians in #Mandalay are rescuing earthquake victims under the rubbles without any equipment, and are in dire need of dead body bags, water, phone charging stations and assistance.
Video: Su San pic.twitter.com/TkmPv0Fxa5

— Hnin Zaw (@hninyadanazaw) March 29, 2025

Rescue efforts here have been complicated by searing temperatures - expected to cross 40 degrees Celsius today - that will exhaust rescue workers and accelerate body decomposition.

The desperation in Myanmar is, perhaps, best understood by the harrowing story of another woman - who was pregnant - and was located after 55 hours under a collapsed building in Mandalay.

Rescuers exulted at having found her alive. They were forced to amputate her leg but managed to pull her clear. But, after pulling her out, she died from blood loss due to the amputation.

Myanmar's junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, issued a rare international plea for aid hours after the earthquake struck, a stark departure from the regime's usual stance of rejecting foreign assistance. He has also declared a state of emergency in six regions, and hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties.

Thousands have been injured and over 300 people remain missing.

With input from agencies

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