Bangkok skyscraper collapses after quake, traps 81

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A 30-story skyscraper under construction for government offices collapsed in Bangkok on Friday, trapping 81 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.

The building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake, which had its epicenter in Myanmar.

Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters at least three workers had been killed, with 81 more trapped inside.

Rescuers were surveying the tangle of rubble and twisted metal for a safe way to search for survivors, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer at the scene said.

“I heard people calling for help, saying ‘help me’,” Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bang Sue district, told AFP.

Thai authorities have declared a state of emergency in Bangkok, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Friday.

At a major hospital in the Myanmar capital Naypyidaw, 20 people died after they arrived, a doctor told AFP.

Rows of wounded were treated outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed general hospital, some writhing in pain, others lying still as relatives sought to comfort them.

The tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing on Friday afternoon at a shallow depth, the United States Geological Survey said. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock hit the same area minutes later.

Chunks of ceilings fell from buildings and roads buckled in Myanmar capital Naypyidaw, a sprawling, purpose-built city with highways up to 20 lanes wide, according to AFP. journalists.

A team of AFP journalists were at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the earthquake struck and the building began shaking.

Pieces fell from the ceiling and walls cracked as uniformed staff ran outside, some of them trembling and tearful, others grabbing cellphones to try to contact loved ones.

The ground vibrated violently for around half a minute before settling.

The quakes caused panic in nearby cities in northern Thailand and down to capital Bangkok.

The quake damaged buildings in Bangkok and forced the suspension of some metro and light rail services in the city.

Tremors were also felt in China’s southwest Yunnan province, according to Beijing’s quake agency, which said the jolt measured 7.9 in magnitude.