A 33-storey high-rise collapsed in Thailand’s Bangkok after a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar and tremors were felt across the South Asian region on Friday afternoon, with aftershocks striking the region multiple times.

The unfinished building was reduced to rubble in a few seconds, and it was a race against time to search for survivors. However, the Bangkok police told NDTV that “Most of the victims are probably dead and there’s less than one per cent chance of finding any survivors.”

The Bangkok cops added that they “have not pulled out anyone alive so far, despite having all the necessary equipment for a rescue operation, and it would take at least two months to clear the wreckage.”

Read more: Bangkok Ground Report: Rubble Mountain, 50 Trapped And A Race Against Time

According to news agency AFP, as of Sunday, 17 deaths have been confirmed, with 32 injured and 83 still unaccounted for – most of them construction workers from the site of the collapsed building.

China Connection

A China connection has also surfaced in the Bangkok skyscraper, which belonged to Thailand’s State Audit Office (SAO). It had been under construction for three years at a reported cost of over two billion baht (45 million pounds). 

The Telegraph in the UK reported that the SAO building was a joint venture between the Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) and China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd. The latter is a subsidiary of China Railway Number 10 Engineering Group Company, which holds a 49 per cent stake – the maximum foreign ownership allowed under Thai law.

Read more: China Connection Emerges In Bangkok Skyscraper That Collapsed During Quake

The Chinese-backed firm is now under probe. The Bangkok police told NDTV, they are “aware that the Chinese company was constructing the building, but they can’t take shortcuts to blame China.”

Experts have questioned the structural integrity of the under-construction building, with some claiming that only 10 per cent of the buildings in Bangkok are earthquake-proof, and hotels have issued notices to guests about areas under inspection and the possibility of evacuation if issues are found.

Trail Of Destruction Across Borders

Over 1,600 people have died in Myanmar, and several thousand have been injured. The tremors, which originated northwest of Sagaing, demolished buildings and infrastructure across Mandalay, one of Myanmar’s largest cities.

Myanmar’s junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, issued a rare international plea for aid, a stark departure from the regime’s usual stance of rejecting foreign assistance. The country has declared a state of emergency across six regions, and hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s intensified military pressure on Hamas in Gaza has been effective, stressing the Palestinian group must lay down its arms.

“We are negotiating under fire… We can see cracks beginning to appear” in what the group demanded in its negotiations, Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu’s remarks came as mediators — Egypt, Qatar, and the United States — continued efforts to broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

A senior Hamas official stated on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators and urged Israel to support it.

Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the proposal and said Israel had submitted a counterproposal.

However, the details of the latest mediation efforts remain undisclosed.

On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected claims Israel was not interested in discussing a deal that would secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza, but insisted Hamas must surrender its weapons.

“We are willing. Hamas must lay down its arms… Its leaders will be allowed to leave” from Gaza, he said.

He said that Israel would ensure overall security in Gaza and “enable the implementation of the Trump plan — the voluntary migration plan”.

Days after taking office, US President Donald Trump had announced a plan that would relocate Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

His announcement was slammed by much of the international community.

A fragile truce that had provided weeks of relative calm in the Gaza Strip collapsed on March 18 when Israel resumed its aerial bombardment and ground offensive in the Palestinian territory.

On Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed at least eight people in Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, including five children, the territory’s civil defence agency reported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan. 

​Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan.