Bangkok, May 12 — With heavy hearts, authorities today called off the search for survivors at the collapsed State Audit Office building site, nearly seven weeks after the catastrophic structure failure that claimed at least 89 lives during Bangkok’s worst peacetime disaster.

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The decision came after rescue teams combed through the last accessible sections of the wreckage over the weekend, finding no additional human remains. The March 28 collapse, triggered by a powerful earthquake centered in Myanmar, had initially left 109 people unaccounted for in the concrete tomb.

The Final Toll

– 89 confirmed dead (all bodies recovered)

– 9 miraculous survivors pulled from rubble

– 7 still officially missing but presumed dead

BMA Disaster Chief Suriyachai Rawiwan fought back tears as he explained the grim reality facing investigators: “The physics of such a collapse… the forces involved… for those still missing, we must accept they were likely pulverized beyond recognition by thousands of tons of falling concrete.”

Forensic teams continue working to identify bone fragments at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, where advanced DNA analysis has become a heartbreaking puzzle. “Some remains may never be matched,” admitted lead pathologist Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand. “The violence of the collapse was simply too great.”

Five specially-trained cadaver dogs will continue combing the site through week’s end, their sensitive noses seeking what human eyes cannot see. Meanwhile, the BMA prepares to hand the devastated property back to the State Audit Office this Thursday, marking the official transition from rescue operation to reconstruction.

The disaster has sparked urgent calls for Thailand to adopt modern earthquake building codes. Preliminary investigations suggest the 22-year-old government building lacked critical structural reinforcements found in newer Bangkok high-rises that withstood the same tremors.

As dusk fell tonight, makeshift memorials of flowers and photos continued growing outside the cordoned-off site. Among the mourners was 34-year-old Nareerat Wongsomboon, still hoping for closure: “My sister’s desk was on the third floor. They never found her ID card, her bag… or her.”

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The government has announced plans for a permanent memorial at the site once reconstruction begins. For now, the nation mourns the civil servants, janitors, security guards and visitors whose ordinary workday became a date with tragedy.

-Thailand News (TN)