Bangkok: Drilling into the basement of the building has already collapsed more than half. Bangkok reveals progress in search operation for missing persons in the collapse of the Office of the Auditor General’s building due to an earthquake, drilling to more than half of the basement, emphasizing that it will continue until it is certain that there are no survivors.
According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Suriyachai Rawiwan, Director of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office of Bangkok (BMA), revealed the progress of the search operation for missing persons from the collapse of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) building under construction in Chatuchak District from the earthquake on March 28. He said that officials have opened search areas in several zones. However, there are still risky areas that must be handled with caution.
In Zone D, officials have been able to open the entire first floor. Meanwhile, Zones C2 and C3, which are located at the connecting walkway between the main building and the parking building at the back, are still unable to access the basement floor because the debris of the building collapsed and pressed it down. This has reduced the height from the first floor to the basement floor to less than 1 meter, from the original height of 4 meters. Currently, there is only about 50 centimeters left before the basement floor can be accessed.
The elevator shaft area, the investigation team for collecting evidence, has already inspected and requested to reserve some areas for collecting evidence. At the same time, there is a plan to open additional areas in the front and back elevator halls, which are approximately 2 meters from the parking building, to go down to the lower floor as well.
In the A4 zone, according to information from USAR rescue workers, they discovered an entrance under the floor of the D4 zone, which connects to an empty space about 10 x 15 meters wide and about 4 meters high, which can be crawled into. When moving in the same plane as the front retaining wall, they found yellow stains and flies, which are suspicious points where there may be missing persons trapped. Officials will proceed to open the remains of the building in this area to reach this underground level as well.
Mr. Suriyachai revealed that this mission is hard work, takes a long time and requires cooperation from many parties, especially the private sector, which has sent heavy machinery such as drilling trucks to help with the operation continuously. Some have already withdrawn due to other missions. Currently, there are about 6 machines in use. If a machine breaks down, there are still backups to rotate and use at full efficiency.
However, the major problem is cutting the scrap metal and structural columns that are still intact, which takes time to cut with a gas system and drill and pull with a backhoe. If the C2 and C3 zones can be opened today, it will be considered that more than half of the collapsed buildings have been opened.
The latest number of missing persons as of 6:00 p.m. on May 3, 2025, there were a total of 103 victims, 86 dead, 9 injured, and 8 more still being sought. The BMA and relevant officials confirmed that they would not stop the mission until it was confirmed that no one was trapped in the wreckage.
For the number of missing persons, yesterday we discussed with the investigators the true information of how many people are missing. If all 103 missing persons are found and the mission is terminated, there is a risk of leaving missing persons behind. The goal is to help bring out all those trapped in the building wreckage. Therefore, the work must continue until no one is left behind, until it is clear that no one is left behind. This afternoon, there will be another meeting to discuss this matter. Therefore, the officers must work together closely, both in the search and evidence collection, in order for the operation to be carried out safely and comprehensively.