A desperate search for survivors continued Sunday — from a collapsed high-rise building that was under construction in Bangkok, Thailand, to the rubble of ancient buildings in neighboring Myanmar — as a series of powerful aftershocks from Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake made it precarious for rescuers digging through debris, officials said.
The death toll in the Bangkok metropolitan region rose to 18 on Sunday, according to government officials. In Myanmar, the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake, at least 1,644 people were dead and another 139 were officially missing. At least 3,408 people were injured in Myanmar alone, officials said.
The number of deaths across the devastated region is expected to rise, officials said.
Rescuers search for survivors trapped in the collapsed Sky Villa Condominium building in Mandalay on March 29, 2025, a day after an earthquake struck central Myanmar.
Sai Aung Main/AFP via Getty Images
In the Bangkok metropolitan area, home to more than 17.4 million people, search-and-rescue workers were focused on a collapsed high-rise building in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok. At least 11 people, believed to all be construction workers, have been confirmed dead and another 78 people remain missing in the rubble of the 34-story Sky Villa condominium, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan administration.
More than 30 people were injured when floors of the building that was under construction began to pancake on top of each other around 1:30 p.m. local time on Friday, trapping construction workers in the debris and creating a large dust cloud that enveloped the area, officials said. The building collapsed about half an hour after the powerful earthquake, centered in Myanmar, struck.
Family members of the missing construction workers gathered near the collapsed building as search-and-rescue crews dug through the pile of debris by hand, racing against time in a search for survivors.
One brother and sister told ABC News their parents were among the workers who were in the building at the time of the collapse and are now among those unaccounted for.
Map locator where earthquake hit in Myanmar, Mar. 28, 2025.
American tourists Garret Briere and his wife told ABC News they never could have imagined that their first vacation to Thailand would end up being one of the most terrifying experiences of their lives.
The couple from Washington state was in the mall across the street from the Sky Villa construction site when the massive earthquake hit. Briere said he watched in horror as the building fell in the quake’s aftermath and described panicked people running for their lives away from the structure. Briere said a huge dust cloud enveloped the area.
“We ran out of the building because it started shaking,” Briere said. “I grabbed my wife’s hand and I said, ‘Don’t let go.’ Immediately, we were just covered in dust and debris, and we couldn’t see, and there were thousands of people just in a panic.”
It took just several seconds for the entire building to be reduced to a 7-story-high pile of rubble, the couple said.
The epicenter of the earthquake was in Mandalay, Myanmar, the country’s second-largest city. Bangkok is about 600 miles from the epicenter.
A series of aftershocks continued to shake the region Sunday. A 5.1 magnitude aftershock struck about 17 miles north of Mandalay on Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese rescuers arrive at the Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 29, 2025.
Haymhan Aung/Xinhua via AP
The USGS also recorded another strong aftershock as a 4.2 magnitude quake struck near Shwebo, which is about 68 miles northwest of Mandalay, earlier on Sunday.
Several videos emerged Sunday showing rescuers pulling survivors from the rubble in Myanmar. The Myanmar Fire Services Department released a video overnight showing rescuers pulling a woman alive from a collapsed building. People could be heard cheering in the background as the woman was taken to medics for treatment.
The Myanmar Fire Services Department released a video of rescuers pulling a woman alive out of a collapsed building in Myanmar, March 29, 2025.
Myanmar Fire Services Department
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted Friday about the potential U.S. response to the earthquake.
“My prayers go out to the people of Burma and Thailand who are impacted by the earthquake,” Rubio wrote in a social media post. “We’ve been in contact with these countries and, as @POTUS said, stand ready to provide assistance.”
This UGC photo taken and posted by Hla Myo Aung on Facebook on March 28, 2025, shows people trying to save a vehicle from falling into a crack in the road in Sagaing, Myanmar, following an earthquake.
Hla Myo Aung via AFP via Getty Images
Rubio also confirmed the State Department’s teams in the affected countries were “safe and secure.”
The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has suspended nonemergency consular services for the time being. The U.S. mission to Thailand has not reported any disruption in services.
ABC News’ Karson Yiu, Gamay Palacios and Preechaya Rassadanukul contributed to this report.
