Searchers recover 3 bodies from Thai rail tunnel that collapsed during construction

BANGKOK (AP) — The bodies of three foreign workers who were trapped for days in a railway tunnel in northeastern Thailand that collapsed during construction have been retrieved after an intensive rescue effort, Thai officials said Friday

The tunnel is a part of a Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project linking the capital Bangkok to the northeastern province of Nong Khai, bordering Laos.

Part of it collapsed on Saturday night while three foreign workers, one from Myanmar and two from China, were inside. The tunnel is in Nakhon Ratchasima province, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Bangkok.

Investigation of the accident is ongoing, but Thai media reported that Deputy Transport Minister Surapong Piyachote said Monday that it appeared that the earth above the tunnel had become especially heavy due to days of rain.

The body of one worker, a truck driver from Myanmar, was found Thursday and the other two on Friday, Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told the media.

He said the two Chinese victims were a supervisor and a backhoe operator.

Autopsies carried out at a provincial hospital would ascertain the cause of death, he said.

“The initial result indicated that the first victim we found yesterday died of suffocation,” Anutin said.

The 126-hour rescue operation was led by the State Railway of Thailand and a rescue team from China, which arrived at the scene on Tuesday.

The ambitious two-stage rail project has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht ($15.3 billion).

The 243-kilometer (151-mile) Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima segment is expected to be completed by 2028, and the 356-kilometer (221-mile) Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai segment by 2029.

In this photo released by the State Railway of Thailand, ambulances are prepared Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, to carry away bodies of two workers who had been trapped in a collapsed tunnel in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, that is part of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway construction site. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)

In this photo released by the State Railway of Thailand, rescuers sit on a pick-up truck Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, as they move towards the scene of a collapsed tunnel in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, that is part of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway construction site. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)

In this photo released by the State Railway of Thailand, rescuers work on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, the scene of a collapsed tunnel in Nakhon Ratchasima province that is part of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway construction site. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)

In this photo released by the State Railway of Thailand, rescuers work on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, the scene of a collapsed tunnel in Nakhon Ratchasima province that is part of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway construction site. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)

In this photo released by the State Railway of Thailand, rescuers work on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, the scene of a collapsed tunnel in Nakhon Ratchasima province that is part of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway construction site. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine made a new call Saturday on the West to allow it to strike deeper into Russia after a meeting between U.S. and British leaders a day earlier produced no visible shift in their policy on the use of long-range weapons.

“Russian terror begins at weapons depots, airfields, and military bases inside the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said Saturday. “Permission to strike deep into Russia will speed up the solution.”

The renewed appeal came as Kyiv said Russia launched more drone and artillery attacks into Ukraine overnight.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on allies to greenlight the use of Western-provided long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory. So far, the U.S. has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Discussions on allowing long-range strikes were believed to be on the table when U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Washington D.C. Friday but, no decision was announced immediately after the meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing the U.S. and other allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons to target air bases and launch sites further afield as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before winter.

He did not directly comment on the meeting Saturday morning, but said that more than 70 Russian drones had been launched into Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian airforce later said that 76 Russian drones had been sighted, of which 72 were shot down.

“We need to boost our air defense and long-range capabilities to protect our people,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “We are working on this with all of Ukraine’s partners.”

Other overnight attacks saw one person killed by Russian artillery fire as energy infrastructure was targeted in Ukraine’s Sumy region. A 54-year-old driver was killed and seven more people were hospitalized, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.

A KAB aerial bomb also fell on a garage complex in the eastern city of Kharkiv, said regional Gov. Ihor Terekhov. No injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have continued to make public statements warning that long-range strikes would provoke further escalation between Russia and the West. The remarks are in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency TASS Saturday that the U.S. and British governments were pushing the conflict, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, toward “poorly controlled escalation”.

Similar comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, where he said that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.” were brushed off by Biden Friday.

Asked what he thought about Putin’s threat, Biden answered, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

Elsewhere, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 19 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the country’s Kursk and Belgorod regions. No casualties were reported.

Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A Ukrainian reacts after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainians react after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A Ukrainian serviceman, left, is greeted after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)