Bangkok building collapsed during earthquake: Thailand to issue arrest warrants for 17 people

The six-week search and recovery operation for victims of the collapsed State Audit Office (SAO) building in Bangkok, Thailand has officially ended, the Bangkok governor declared on May 13.

A remembrance was held in honour of the victims who died after the high-rise building under construction collapsed, following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar on Mar. 28.

Soldiers, police, volunteers, and other officials involved in the operation laid flowers on the debris of the destroyed building to pay their final respects, and the governor thanked them for their efforts.

The Bangkok Post reported that 109 people were listed to have been working inside the building when the earthquake struck, with 89 bodies recovered and another seven still missing.

Nine were injured from the event, while the last four listed as being on duty were absent from the site on Mar. 28 and returned home after learning what had happened.

A total of 296 body parts were found on site and were sent to the Police General Hospital for DNA matching.

The final day of operation had K-9 units making a final sweep surrounding the mountain of debris, followed by a merit-making ceremony with 109 monks, which represented the total number of people at the site building the day the earthquake struck.

The site will officially be handed back to SAO and other related agencies on May 15.

Police seeking arrest warrants for 17 people

Local police are also preparing to seek arrest warrants for 17 people connected to the collapse of the SAO building, including engineers, project supervisors, and executives of the construction contractor.

This was after investigations were launched by the Metropolitan Police Bureau, a security unit in the Royal Thai Police.

A few weeks earlier, Thai authorities arrested the director of China Railway Number 10's Thai subsidiary, a company that was involved in the construction of the SAO building.

Previous investigations found that the building under construction had used steel of substandard quality and came from a factory that was ordered to close in December 2024 due to an accident involving a gas leak.

The State Audit building is the only building to have collapsed in Bangkok, following the earthquake in Myanmar.

Top image from Fire & Rescue Thailand/Facebook via Thai PBS News and Khaosod/Facebook