Latest news with #PhumthamWechachai
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
BBC reporter: Scramble for survivors in rubble of collapsed 30-storey building
As the sun sets over Bangkok, hundreds of rescue workers desperately search for survivors at the collapsed 30-storey skyscraper on a construction site in Thailand's capital. Rescuers are trying to reach dozens of workers trapped in the rubble after the skyscraper collapsed. Standing on a bridge a short distance from the scene, under the orange glow of the sky, a group of reporters, including myself, look on in disbelief at the three-storey-high piles of concrete. Twisted wire and metal jut out. Even as more professional rescue and military teams arrive and floodlights are erected, there seems little chance of finding many survivors. A shallow magnitude 7.7 quake hit central Myanmar and was followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.4 aftershock, toppling buildings and rupturing roads. Here, across the border in Thailand, the shocks and devastation were also felt. Residents struggle to respond to a natural disaster few are accustomed to. I was at my house when the shakes started and it was unlike anything I had felt before. The collapsed building, belonging to the national audit office, was under construction for three years at a cost of more than two billion Thai baht (£45m) - now reduced to rubble. White tents have been erected at the perimeter as rescuers in bright yellow hard hats work to free an estimated 81 people still trapped beneath the collapsed skyscraper. Live: Follow the latest on the Myanmar earthquake Watch: Moment Bangkok high-rise under construction collapses Eyewitnesses describe horror in quake's aftermath What we know so far In pictures: Damaged buildings and buckled roads Thai Defence Minister Phumtham Wechachai told reporters three people had been confirmed dead. A little under an hour ago, I saw two covered bodies being carried to the tents. The road next to the building is full of fire engines, ambulances and other rescue vehicles. Curious civilians have joined us on the bridge, watching in an attempt to understand what is happening. Heavy machinery is beginning to arrive including a large crane. Rescuers say they need them to remove the debris before they can start searching for the missing. I arrived less than an hour after the collapse to find construction workers covered in dust, stunned by what they had just survived. Adisorn Kamphasorn had been bringing materials down from the sixth floor when he suddenly felt the tremor. The 18-year-old looked up the stairwell and saw a crane shaking. He told me: "I knew it was about to be bad. I ran. It took one minute for it to collapse. All of a sudden, there was smoke everywhere and everything went black. I couldn't breathe. I didn't have a mask." He had not spoken to his family yet because he lost his phone in the chaos, saying he had never experienced anything like it in his life. He thought he was going to die. The construction workers tell me they were a mixture of Thai and Burmese. Nukul Khemutha, 30, was working on the fifth floor when he felt the tremors. He looked up and saw all the floors sinking, holes forming. He said one of his colleagues had just gone up to the tenth floor to use the bathroom and they are still waiting for news of his whereabouts. He told me: "We were all just screaming 'run' and telling each other to hold hands and run together." When I spoke to them, they sat there smoking, trying to calm down. They looked sad. None of the survivors had received medical help, as all the attention was focused on those still trapped. As the sound of drilling intensifies, rescue workers face a long night ahead. Additional reporting by Rachel Hagan in London Hundreds feared dead as quake hits Myanmar and Thailand, with dozens trapped in collapsed Bangkok building
BBC News
28-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Scramble at 30-storey Bangkok building reduced to rubble
As the sun sets over Bangkok, hundreds of rescue workers desperately search for survivors at the collapsed 30-storey skyscraper on a construction site in Thailand's are trying to reach dozens of workers trapped in the rubble after the skyscraper on a bridge a short distance from the scene, under the orange glow of the sky, a group of reporters, including myself, look on in disbelief at the three-storey-high piles of concrete. Twisted wire and metal jut as more professional rescue and military teams arrive and floodlights are erected, there seems little chance of finding many survivors.A shallow magnitude 7.7 quake hit central Myanmar and was followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.4 aftershock, toppling buildings and rupturing roads. Here, across the border in Thailand, the shocks and devastation were also felt. Residents struggle to respond to a natural disaster few are accustomed to. I was at my house when the shakes started and it was unlike anything I had felt collapsed building, belonging to the national audit office, was under construction for three years at a cost of more than two billion Thai baht (£45m) — now reduced to rubble. White tents have been erected at the perimeter as rescuers in bright yellow hard hats work to free an estimated 81 people still trapped beneath the collapsed skyscraper. Live: Follow the latest on the Myanmar earthquakeWatch: Moment Bangkok high-rise under construction collapsesEyewitnesses describe horror in quake's aftermath What we know so farIn pictures: Damaged buildings and buckled roads Thai Defence Minister Phumtham Wechachai told reporters three people had been confirmed dead. A little under an hour ago, I saw two covered bodies being carried to the road next to the building is full of fire engines, ambulances and other rescue vehicles. Curious civilians have joined us on the bridge, watching in an attempt to understand what is machinery is beginning to arrive including a large crane. Rescuers say they need them to remove the debris before they can start searching for the missing. I arrived less than an hour after the collapse to find construction workers covered in dust, stunned by what they had just Kamphasorn had been bringing materials down from the sixth floor when he suddenly felt the tremor. The 18-year-old looked up the stairwell and saw a crane shaking. He told me: "I knew it was about to be bad. I ran. It took one minute for it to collapse. All of a sudden, there was smoke everywhere and everything went black. I couldn't breathe. I didn't have a mask."He had not spoken to his family yet because he lost his phone in the chaos, saying he had never experienced anything like it in his life. He thought he was going to construction workers tell me they were a mixture of Thai and Khemutha, 30, was working on the fifth floor when he felt the tremors. He looked up and saw all the floors sinking, holes forming. He said one of his colleagues had just gone up to the tenth floor to use the bathroom and they are still waiting for news of his whereabouts. He told me: "We were all just screaming 'run' and telling each other to hold hands and run together."When I spoke to them, they sat there smoking, trying to calm down. They looked sad. None of the survivors had received medical help, as all the attention was focused on those still the sound of drilling intensifies, rescue workers face a long night ahead.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thailand delegation headed to China to inspect returned Uyghurs
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Cabinet ministers from Thailand will head to China's Xinjiang region on Tuesday to inspect Uyghurs deported last month, an official said, ahead of a three-day visit in which Bangkok says only five of the 40 sent back will be made available. Thailand sent back the 40 Uyghurs in a secretive pre-dawn deportation on February 27, defying calls from United Nations human rights experts who said they were at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned. The move drew a sharp rebuke from western countries, including the United States, which last week hit unnamed Thai officials with visa sanctions over the deportation. The European parliament also condemned Thailand, calling on the European Union to use free trade negotiations as leverage to prevent a repeat. Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any abuse and has accused western countries of interference and of peddling lies. Thai Defence Minister Phumtham Wechachai, Justice Minister Taweee Sodswong, senior military officials and nine members of the Thai media will travel to Xinjiang, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said. "The defence minister's delegation will receive a summary briefing by a representative from the Xinjiang autonomous region," said Jirayu, adding they would later visit Uyghurs. Thailand has repeatedly said it had received assurances from China that the Uyghurs would be looked after. 'NO HIDDEN AGENDA' Phumtham, who is also deputy prime minister, has said Thailand expected to meet only five of the 40 Uyghurs returned and one from a previous group sent back a decade ago. They were all from a group of 300 Uyghurs who fled China and were arrested in 2014 in Thailand. Some were sent back to China, others to Turkey and the rest kept in Thai custody until last month's deportation. "The government will make known to the civilised world the straightforwardness of Thailand and that there was no hidden agenda or deportation of refugees," spokesperson Jirayu added. At a regular briefing on Tuesday in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the visit was "part of normal friendly exchanges between China and Thailand." Reuters reported this month that Canada and the United States had offered to resettle the Uyghurs who had been returned to China, but Bangkok feared upsetting China. Thailand said it had received no concrete offers, however. The deportation was in the Southeast Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere, a Thai vice minister for foreign affairs later said.
Reuters
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Thailand delegation headed to China to inspect returned Uyghurs
Summary Thailand suffers backlash over Uyghur deportation Thai ministers to meet only some Uyghurs in Xinjiang China says Thai visit part of normal exchanges BANGKOK, March 18 (Reuters) - Cabinet ministers from Thailand will head to China's Xinjiang region on Tuesday to inspect Uyghurs deported last month, an official said, ahead of a three-day visit in which Bangkok says only five of the 40 sent back will be made available. Thailand sent back the 40 Uyghurs in a secretive pre-dawn deportation on February 27, defying calls from United Nations human rights experts who said they were at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned. The move drew a sharp rebuke from western countries, including the United States, which last week hit unnamed Thai officials with visa sanctions over the deportation. The European parliament also condemned Thailand,, opens new tab calling on the European Union to use free trade negotiations as leverage to prevent a repeat. Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any abuse and has accused western countries of interference and of peddling lies. Thai Defence Minister Phumtham Wechachai, Justice Minister Taweee Sodswong, senior military officials and nine members of the Thai media will travel to Xinjiang, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said. "The defence minister's delegation will receive a summary briefing by a representative from the Xinjiang autonomous region," said Jirayu, adding they would later visit Uyghurs. Thailand has repeatedly said it had received assurances from China that the Uyghurs would be looked after. 'NO HIDDEN AGENDA' Phumtham, who is also deputy prime minister, has said Thailand expected to meet only five of the 40 Uyghurs returned and one from a previous group sent back a decade ago. They were all from a group of 300 Uyghurs who fled China and were arrested in 2014 in Thailand. Some were sent back to China, others to Turkey and the rest kept in Thai custody until last month's deportation. "The government will make known to the civilised world the straightforwardness of Thailand and that there was no hidden agenda or deportation of refugees," spokesperson Jirayu added. At a regular briefing on Tuesday in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the visit was "part of normal friendly exchanges between China and Thailand." Reuters reported this month that Canada and the United States had offered to resettle the Uyghurs who had been returned to China, but Bangkok feared upsetting China. Thailand said it had received no concrete offers, however. The deportation was in the Southeast Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere, a Thai vice minister for foreign affairs later said.
