Search for survivors in Bangkok tower tragedy enters crucial day

It is unclear if those seven are still alive. Neither is it clear if the signs of life detected on Sunday morning had continued through the day.

The heat in Bangkok has been extreme – 36 degrees and humid on Saturday – but there was modest relief on Sunday, and a cloudy 31 degrees is again forecast for today.

Anutin has cited the concept of a “golden 72 hours”, in which the possibility of at least some of the trapped workers surviving without food and water remained fair. Beyond this, the chances are greatly diminished, though not entirely hopeless.

The grim marker will pass about 1pm today (5pm AEDT).

Efforts at the site on Sunday were busier and more targeted compared to the previous day as engineers got a better read on which parts of the structure were more stable than others. At one point, a crane lowered a team in a cage to the top of the pile.