The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has promised to find all remaining persons trapped in the ruins of the collapsed State Audit Office building as the rescue operation nears its final phase.
BMA Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej told CU Radio on Friday that rescuers would not leave a single missing person behind as the salvage work steadily progresses towards completion.
"We are determined to find every one of them. We are certain to locate 103," Ms Tavida, who has a pivotal role in managing disaster responses, said in an interview with the Chulalongkorn University broadcaster. "I will keep searching until we reach ground zero."
Rescuers are still looking for 34 people missing from the rapid collapse of the 30-floor building in Chatuchak district, which occurred due to the impacts of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar on March 28. A total of 103 people were working in the building under construction before it was completely flattened. The incident claimed 60 lives and injured nine, all of whom have been discharged from hospitals.
The collapse turned the 2.14-billion-baht building into a massive pile of steel, cement and other materials, standing 27 metres high on the day of the quake across an area of 1.6 square kilometres. It has now been reduced to seven metres, and excavation work is getting closer to the ground floor of the ill-fated government structure.
Ms Tavida said City Hall expected to remove all debris on the ground floor by the end of this month, with about another week in May allocated for work in the basement.
The operation remained concentrated in zones B and C of the structure, as most bodies had been retrieved from these areas. The two operation zones correspond to the locations where the stairs were erected.
The deputy governor said many bodies were found in the two zones due to the impact of the collapse, as it tilted towards these areas, carrying the workers with it.
Backhoes excavate the ruins of the collapsed skyscraper on Thursday. (Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Facebook account)
Three missing links
Officials are looking for DNA samples from the relatives of three missing persons, all of whom are Myanmar citizens.
City Hall has contacted the Foreign Affairs Ministry to ask the Thai embassy in Myanmar to assist in locating their relatives and facilitating the collection of DNA samples, according to Ms Tavida.
More than 100 body parts have been found under the wreckage, and forensic experts at Police General Hospital are working to match them with the DNA samples collected from their relatives.
