FOUR Disaster Prevention and Mitigation volunteers and one resident died in the collapse of the fire-hit house in Soi Anyamanee at Bangkok’s Thawi Wattana district early this morning (April 3) with the body of one of the volunteers having been brought out and work underway to rescue the other four bodies, Thai Rath newspaper said.
Officials said as of 4 p.m.today there were no longer vital signs emerging from the rubble and the names of the five victims as follows:
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Mr. Kiat Patterson, 35, resident;
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Mr. Thanapob Praphai, 44, volunteer (body brought out);
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Mr. Samacha Ninthorn, 48, volunteer;
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Mr. Athaphon Lukthong, 26, volunteer;
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Mr. Suthat Plengklad, 38, volunteer.
Regarding the plan of action, officials said the first step is to rescue the dead bodies by first removing those nearer the surface of the rubble. The operation is difficult because while the fire has been put out, the temperature is still 100 degrees Celsius and the site is a disaster zone and could lead to rescuers too dying if they are not careful.
For this reason structural engineers have been brought in to assess the collapsed building in searching for the bodies.
They added that once the bodies nearer the surface have been pulled out then heavy machinery would be brought in to dig deeper and reach those trapped further down the big pile of rubble.
They expect this rescue operation to last a few days.
CAPTION:
Rescuers working on removing the bodies of those who died in the collapse of the fire-gutted house this morning. Photos: Thai Rath
