Foreign Workers Trapped in Thai Tunnel Found Dead After Several Days
Thai authorities have confirmed the deaths of three foreign workers who were trapped in a collapsed train tunnel for over five days, despite extensive rescue efforts.
The workers, two from China and one from Myanmar, were believed to be alive until Thursday. They became trapped on Saturday when part of the tunnel they were constructing in Pak Chong district, approximately 200km (124 miles) northeast of Bangkok, caved in.
On Friday, officials announced that all three workers had died, with preliminary investigations indicating that a lack of oxygen was the likely cause.
The tunnel, which was still under construction as part of the Thailand-China high-speed railway project, collapsed around 23:40 local time (16:40 GMT) last Saturday due to a landslide.
Rescue teams, including personnel from the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and a Chinese disaster response team, worked tirelessly throughout the week in hopes of saving the trapped men. They attempted to pump oxygen into the tunnel, but it remains unclear whether the tubes reached the workers.
On Thursday, rescuers discovered the body of a Burmese truck driver buried beneath rubble. Early on Friday morning, around 06:00 local time (00:00 GMT), the bodies of the two Chinese workers—a supervisor and an excavator operator—were also found, according to the SRT.
The three men were located roughly 25 meters from where the tunnel had collapsed. Reports suggest that by Wednesday, rescuers had come within a meter of one of the trapped workers and had even detected faint noises that were thought to be coming from the men. Scanners and sniffer dogs had also picked up signs of life, raising hopes that they could still be saved.
However, the rescue operation was hampered by continuous landslides, which repeatedly filled the holes dug by the rescue teams, making progress extremely slow.
Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand’s caretaker Interior Minister, noted that rescue efforts were limited by the challenging engineering conditions. He explained that rescuers had to proceed cautiously to prevent further collapses and had to build 3-meter (9.8 feet) high support structures to ensure their own safety.
The bodies of the three men were finally retrieved from the tunnel on Friday. Thai police have launched an investigation into the incident, and construction activities around the tunnel have been temporarily halted.
Image credit: EPA