Families of those trapped in rubble of collapsed Bangkok building after earthquake face agonising wait
In Bangkok, at the site where a mass of rubble sits, rescue workers have the machinery they need and the manpower to try and pull people out of the high-rise building that collapsed.
In neighbouring Myanmar, they certainly don’t have that kind of capacity and they’re confronting a much larger death toll – one that is rising.
And yet, progress at the site where an unfinished building was instantly destroyed has been painfully slow.
All day, we watched as cranes tried to shift the concrete and steel around to make way for rescuers to enter.
Tide Banluerit, a volunteer rescuer, emerged looking bewildered after 11 hours inside.
“I looked at the structure and the foundation looked strong,'” he said. “But it’s not meant to collapse like dominoes and stack like pancakes in that way.”
But there is still hope.
Myanmar earthquake: Follow live updates
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Moment Bangkok building collapses after earthquake
The Thai police told us overnight that they had seen signs of life on thermal imaging systems.
Perhaps as many as 15 people, they believed.
Families of the missing were holding on to those nuggets of information – holding vigil at a dusty area now full of makeshift water and footstalls, laid on to support the round-the-clock rescue efforts.
Hovering outside a white tent, Munyapa Thongkorn was waiting for news.
Wiping away tears as she clutched onto her husband, she told me her 17-year-old daughter Naiyana was trapped.
She was working as an electrician inside the multi-storey building when the quake hit.
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Munyapa Thongkorn’s daughter is missing after the building collapse
Naiyana, 17, was working as an electrician inside the building when the quake hit
“They told me she’s still inside, still stuck,” she says. “I was only just talking to my friends about her before the earthquake. But I haven’t been able to reach her since.”
A rescuer told me he thought it could be 72 hours before they could properly get inside the mangled structure.
That’s a long time when every second counts.
In Myanmar, people are using their own hands to pull their neighbours from the rubble.
There have been some miraculous escapes.
Tide Banluerit spent 11 hours inside the building looking for survivors
Pic: Reuters
One video from Mandalay shows a young woman emerging from the smallest of gaps – a flash of a hand and then a smile – confirmation after a long rescue that she had survived against all the odds.
China, Russia, and India have sent teams into the country now after the ruling military junta asked for international support – a rare move.
They have their work cut out.
Information in the isolated country has been slow to emerge – the junta restricting access to the internet.
But videos are starting to show the scale of destruction and the death toll, at over 1,600 as of Saturday evening, is expected to rise.
A woman cries as she waits for news as rescue work is under way. Pic: AP
Rescue workers at the site of the collapsed building. Pic: Reuters
The US Geological Survey says it could rise as high as 10,000.
The infrastructure has long been under pressure from a bloody civil war in Myanmar.
It could easily be totally overwhelmed by this disaster.
Hospitals are among the buildings hit.
Over the next 48 hours, we will find out a bit more about just how grave the situation is on the ground.
Traversing the roads, let alone the whim of the ruling junta, is deeply challenging.
But even the military concedes, this time, it needs help and fast.
Pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been found guilty of national security offences in Hong Kong.
The media tycoon and British citizen, 78, was arrested in August 2020 after China imposed a national security law following massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Sky News’ Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith, who is at West Kowloon Law Courts Building, said Mr Lai looked “drawn and thin” as he listened to the verdict being delivered.
He had previously been sentenced for several lesser offences during his five years in prison.
Mr Lai, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security, as well as one count of conspiracy to distribute seditious publications.
He has been found guilty of all three charges.
His trial, heard by three judges approved by the government without a jury present, has been closely monitored by the UK, the US, the European Union and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Mr Lai has spent more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement. His family say his health has worsened as a result and that he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
In August, Mr Lai’s son, Sebastien, told Sky News that unless the British government (of which Mr Lai is a citizen) intervenes, his father “is most likely going to die in jail”.
Lai arriving at court in 2020. Pic: AP
Sebastien said his father’s death would not just be a personal tragedy, but a huge problem for both the Hong Kong authorities and Beijing’s government.
“You can’t tell the world you have the rule of law, the free press and all these values that are instrumental to a financial centre and still have my father in jail,” he told Sky News.
“And if he dies, that’s it, that’s a comma on Hong Kong as a financial centre.”
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A bystander hailed a hero after he tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen in the Bondi Beach shooting is a shop owner.
The man, named by a relative as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, was seen in a video running up to the attacker from behind and then grabbing the shotgun from his hands before pointing the weapon back at him.
The footage then showed the terrorist heading towards a bridge where another gunman was located, while the bystander placed the gun beside a tree.
Ahmed al Ahmed (in a white T-shirt) is seen in a video running up to a gunman from behind
Mr Ahmed then wrestles with the attacker
Live updates on Sydney shooting
Mr Ahmed, who was wearing a white T-shirt, was shot twice in the incident and was due to have surgery, his cousin, Mustafa, has revealed.
In a video on 7News, Mr Ahmed appeared to have a bloodied arm and hand, and was helped by other people near the scene in the Australian city.
At least 11 people were killed and 29 others injured in the attack when two gunmen opened fire from a bridge on crowds at a Jewish event around 6pm local time on Sunday evening.
More than 1,000 people had been at the gathering which was celebrating the festival of Hanukkah.
Mr Ahmed manages to get the gun off the terrorist
The bystander then points the weapon at the attacker who moves away towards a bridge
A gunman was killed and another was in a critical condition following the shooting.
One of the suspects was 24-year-old Naveed Akram.
His driver’s licence says he lives in Bonnyrigg, a suburb of Sydney. The identity of the other suspected attacker is not known.
Naveed Akram, 24, was one of the suspects
Mustafa said father-of-two Mr Ahmed, who owns a fruit shop in the Sydney suburb of Sutherland, did not have any experience with guns but was just walking past when he decided to step in.
He told 7News: “He’s in hospital and we don’t know exactly what’s going on inside.
“We do hope he will be fine. He’s a hero, 100%.”
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What we know about mass shooting
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One of the suspected gunmen has been named as 24-year-old Naveed Akram.
The footage of the bystander’s actions spread quickly on social media as people praised the man for his bravery, saying his actions had potentially saved many lives.
“Australian hero (random civilian) wrestles gun off attacker and disarms him. Some people are brave and then some people are… whatever this is,” one person said on X, sharing the video.
“This Australian man saved countless lives by stripping the gun off one of the terrorists at Bondi beach. HERO,” another said.
Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales state, where Sydney is located, said it was the “most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen”.
“A man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people.”
“That man is a genuine hero, and I’ve got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery,” he added.
The country’s prime minister Anthony Albanese praised the actions of Australians who had “run towards danger in order to help others”.
“These Australians are heroes and their bravery has saved lives,” he told a news conference.
Messages were sweeping across Sydney within minutes of the attack at Bondi Beach.
Parents messaged their children and teenagers, who had been enjoying a late afternoon swim at Bondi.
Witnesses said police were on the scene quickly, and the streets of Sydney’s eastern suburbs were full of police cars and ambulances on their way to Bondi.
Follow live: 11 people killed at event celebrating Hanukkah
When we arrived, there were still dozens of people processing what had happened, and everywhere – shock.
Witnesses told us that when the gunfire started some people took cover in the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club. Once the threat was over, lifeguards helped the injured and used surfboards to carry them out.
Witnesses tell Sky’s Nicole Johnston of Bondi ‘warzone’
Some people were clearly traumatised and provided graphic detail of witnessing the shooting and seeing people killed in front of them.
A photographer, Danny, was covering the Jewish holiday event.
Read more: What we know so far
He said he “locked eyes” with one of the gunmen, who then fired towards him. Danny said he was grazed by a bullet. He kept filming during the shooting, while taking cover.
Sam, from France, was working at Bondi. He went to the scene of the attack and saw almost a dozen people lying on the ground covered in blood. Sam described it as like a “war zone”.
Rabbi Lei Wolff, from Central Synagogue in Sydney, went to Bondi as soon as he heard about the mass shooting. A dear friend of his, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was killed in the attack.
Rabbi Wolff has called on people around the world to stand with Australia’s Jewish community against terrorism.
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