A high-rise building in the Thai capital of Bangkok that collapsed after a 7.7-magnitude quake hit neighboring Myanmar on Monday was being built by a Chinese state-ownedcompany, according to a previous statement from the company.
The 30-story skyscraper, which had been under construction and was reduced to rubble in seconds when the tremor hit, was the new office of the State Audit Office of Thailand, according to Thailand’s National Institute for Emergency Medicine.
It was being built by a subsidiary of the China Railway No.10 Engineering Group, which is itself a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), one of the world’s largest construction and engineering contractors, according to a now-deleted social media post by China Railway No.10 Engineering Group.
In a post on its official WeChat account on April 2, 2024, China Railway No.10 Engineering Group celebrated the completion of the building’s main structure on March 31, 2024.
When completed, the 137-meter building was to serve as the office of Thailand’s State Audit Office and other related government agencies, as well as “a showcase project representing China Railway No.10 Engineering Group’s presence and development in Thailand,” the company said in the post.
The post, which was seen by CNN, was deleted late Friday afternoon after screenshots of it started to circulate on Chinese social media.
CNN has reached out to the company for comment.
Officials have said around 320 people were at the construction site at Chatuchak Park at the time of the collapse.
Thai rescue officials are still trying to figure out exactly how many people are trapped under the rubble.
Dozens of people remain unreachable and the National Institute of Emergency Medicine said 20 workers were also stuck in a lift on the site.
More on the Bangkok high-rise: Chinese state media reported in 2021 that the project was awarded to a joint venture formed by China Railway No.10 Engineering Group and the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited.
“China Railway No.10 Engineering Group serves as the main contractor and is solely responsible for the implementation of the project,” People’s Daily Online, a state-run news website, reported.
