Bangkok clears debris of collapsed tower as dozens still missing

BANGKOK – Bangkok city administration began clearing debris from a

tower that crashed in the March 28

earthquake, as hopes of finding survivors among the dozens of workers feared still trapped was all but over.

The authorities ordered the use of heavy machineries to cut through the mountain of concrete rubble, while keeping rescue teams on standby in case they spot any vital signs of life, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters on April 4.

Rescuers pulled

two more dead bodies from the site overnight

, raising the death toll from the skyscraper collapse to 17. More than 70 workers are still missing, while nine have so far been rescued.

The 30-storey under-construction tower, which was set to house Thailand’s State Audit Office, was the only building to crumble in the Thai capital in the wake of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar on March 28.

The crash stood out in the city that withstood much of the impact of the temblor in contrast to widespread devastation close to the epicentre in Myanmar, where more than 3,000 people were killed.

“We haven’t lost our hopes yet,” Mr Chadchart said. “From now on, we will pay more attention to recovery operations, while keeping the rescue teams on stand-by.”

A Thai government probe earlier this week found that the contractors of the fallen tower used sub-standard steel bars made by a factory that had been shuttered by the authorities months ago. 

Thai authorities are now investigating the design and quality of the materials used by a joint venture of Thai-Chinese contractors. The building was being constructed by ITD-CREC, a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development and China Railway Number 10 Thailand. 

The contractors haven’t offered any explanation yet for the collapse, though Italian-Thai said it was committed to “taking corrective actions to restore normalcy as soon as possible”. 

The Chinese company’s other business operations in the South-east Asian nation are also the focus of multiple probes and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has vowed stringent actions if any violations are found.

The company has won about a dozen other contracts, including an airport, a school building and part of the Thailand-China high-speed railway project.  

While China Railway Number 10 hasn’t responded to request for comments, the Chinese embassy in Bangkok urged the company this week to cooperate in the Thai investigations.

A preliminary probe by the Department of Special Investigation into China Railway Number 10 showed that its majority Thai shareholders are mere proxies and wield no real authority, Mr Yutthana Praedam, the department’s director general, told reporters April 4. 

The Chinese company has outstanding project orders worth 22 billion baht (S$859.2 million) in Thailand, the majority of them government works, Mr Yutthana said. If the company is proven to have illegally used Thai citizens as proxy shareholders, it would be in violation of rules that prohibit majority foreign-owned businesses from bidding for state contracts, he said. BLOOMBERG