‘I owe hass hope’: families awaiting news of loved ones after the collapse of the Bangkok tower | Thailand

PLuem, 18, worked for only a month in a construction site in the Bangkok chatuchak district. It was his first job since he left his family at home. “He found the job because he wanted to live alone,” said his mother, Wanpetch Punta, 38.

It was taken as an electrician in the construction of 30 floors, which would soon become a new block of offices for the city auditor.

Friday, when trembling from the earthquake in the neighbors Myanmar He reached the Thai capital, the entire block collapsed in an instant. They are confirmed that eleven people died in the disaster. Rescue is frantically looking for 78 people who remain dispersed.

The families, including Pluem, sit on upholstery and plastic chairs nearby, note the phones and desperately wait for the news. A metal fencing perimeter was set for cordon of the research and rescue efforts, but it is not high enough to mask the imposing cumulation of cement slabs and twisted metal bars. The floor is covered with dust. Every now and then, a boom sounds out as the debris is overturned.

Wanpetch is here from 5 am on Saturday morning, waiting. Follows social media for news and goes back and forth in a nearby tent, to check the updates in the list of saved or recovered bodies.

Pluem, fun and patient, is loved by everyone, he says. “I have to have hope.”

Rescue have deployed research dogs, drones of thermal images to look for signs of life. Several countries, including the United States, China and Israel, have sent equipment and teams of experts to help in research. Bangkok metropolitan administration officials declared that the signs of life were detected in an area of ​​the site early on Sunday morning.

Many missing people are migrant workers of the nearby Myanmar and Cambogia.

Nai cuttis, 19 years old, came to Thailand Two years ago, after fleeing the conditions in his country of origin, in Myanmar, which was hit by the conflict since 2021, when the military seized power in a coup.

“He found work and he is very good at saving money, very hard,” said Simma, 26 years old, his aunt. He would have sent the money home from his father and grandmother and would put a little bit for his savings.

The family home in Myanmar survived the earthquake.

Nai Tale was working on the 26th floor, according to colleagues who managed to escape.

Simma’s husband, Komyo, 38 years old, waiting with him on the rescue site, the last time he spoke with his granddaughter at Friday lunchtime, just before the earthquake hit. He was happy as usual and had made a nap during his break. Over the past two days, Simma has tried to call her phone again and again. He played, but now he is off.

They are sitting with a friend, also by Myanmar. It is seven months pregnant. Her husband is among the missing.

In front of them, Sophorn Chhay, 42, from Cambodia. His eldest son is also missing, Ratana Phalla, 25 years old. He was working as an electrician on the site. The last time they spoke that he told her that, when he finished his contract on April 10, he would come to be with her. He had told her that he had to earn money before, he said.

All families can do is wait, follow the news updates on their phones and watch to see if the bodies are performed.

Bangkok authorities said on Sunday evening that “hopes remained” and would have intensified their work all day. The Thai government ordered an investigation into why the office collapsed.

Wanpetch says he is trying to force himself to continue eating. Sometimes it can sleep a little, sometimes it can’t, she says. “I want to accelerate their job. I want to know the result. I don’t know what else I can do,” he said.