Bangkok: 'Chao Khun Thongchai' has gifted a 'Success in Everything' amulet to rescue workers in an effort to boost their morale and spirits as they continue the search for missing persons following the collapse of the Office of the Auditor General building. The governor of Bangkok is also preparing a merit-making ceremony for those affected by the incident.
According to Thai News Agency, at 6:30 p.m., Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt, the Governor of Bangkok, visited the joint command center set up to find victims of the collapsed Office of the Auditor General building. During his visit, he spent about 10 minutes in the area before speaking to the media. He shared that he had paid respects to Somdej Phra Maha Ratchamangkhun Muni, also known as Somdej Thongchai, the chief monk of the central region and assistant abbot of Wat Traimit Witthayaram, at Wat Traimit Witthayaram Worawihan. The monk provided approximately 200 success amulets for the search team, which are seen as a source of peace and encouragement. Mr. Sittipunt also mentioned plans to invite Chao Khun Thongchai to conduct a chanting ceremony to dedicate merit to the deceased, injured, and survivors, after learning that many relatives of the deceased were anxious and sought a way to locate the missing bodies trapped inside the building.
Regarding the search efforts, Mr. Chadchart stated that the initial plan remains in place, focusing on removing the building wreckage. If cavities are discovered, a team will be dispatched on foot to investigate. Drones have assessed the debris, initially weighing 26,000 tons, and 10,000 tons have been cleared so far, averaging 10 tons per day. The search operations are scheduled to continue throughout the Songkran holiday, with hopes of finding more people trapped in Zones C and B. To aid this process, a 1,000-ton backhoe has arrived on site but cannot be deployed until access to the top of the wreckage is established. Currently, only one highly experienced operator is available. Once the crane is operational, the team will work to level the debris, a task expected to take around 6 hours. Large machinery operations will cease at 11:30 p.m. to allow manual searches for an hour. If bodies are found, they will be extracted, and if not, work will resume until 6:00 a.m. when another search will be conducted.
