The detection of a light, likely from a mobile phone, has reignited hopes of finding survivors in the collapsed government building in Bangkok's Chatuchak district.
The 2.14-billion-baht State Audit Office (SAO) skyscraper collapsed in seconds due to the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar on March 28.
Pakamol Metheepakdee, a rescue volunteer with the Phetkasem Foundation, said his team was alerted to signs of survivors in the wreckage at 6am on Friday. They received information that light signals, presumably from a mobile phone, had been detected.
According to Mr Pakamol, rescuers working in Zone C, using heavy machinery, heard the sound of an Android phone booting up while passing a cavity in Zone B. The sound is believed to have come from a 50-centimetre space previously located in scans.
Upon further investigation, rescuers spotted a white light and requested a micro-camera from the USAR team, which confirmed the light's existence. However, when they asked the light's source to move for confirmation, there was no response. It was only when they requested the light be turned off and on that they received compliance.
Further scans indicated the potential presence of two human bodies about 1 and 3 metres above ground level, but rescuers have refrained from labelling these findings as survivors.
Rescuers use heavy machinery to clear rubble at quake-hit building in Chatuchak district, Bangkok, on Friday. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Volunteers are carefully removing debris by hand from the area and using a pump to supply oxygen to the cavity.
The building's plans suggest a beam may be facilitating the space currently being excavated, but the need to cut through steel frames has slowed their progress, Mr Pakamol said.
Rescuers are still looking for 67 people still missing from the collapse, which killed 27 people and injured nine, according to the latest update on Friday by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).
A light, thought to be from a survivor's phone, is seen through a micro-camera under rubble on Friday. Phetkasem Foundation
