Indian tourists return to Delhi from Bangkok after earthquake; recount harrowing experiences

Indian tourists recount their harrowing experience during the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, returning safely to New Delhi.

Following the 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which was felt across Myanmar, Thailand, China, and Vietnam, Indian tourists in Bangkok returned safely to New Delhi Airport on Saturday and recounted the difficulty they faced in trying to return home.

Bharati Khurana told ANI that due to the emergency closure of all commercial spaces, they were not able to get taxis to the airport to return home at first. “The situation is fine now, but yesterday it was very bad. where we went out in the market as well, but they had closed it due to the emergency, we could go to market. We had a lot of trouble there, then we could not get any taxi at that time. Even emergency vehicles were not found. Before, we could not even get a taxi to come to the airport,” the tourist told ANI at Delhi airport.

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Pranav, another Indian tourist who went to Bangkok, remembered how everyone started running away when the hotel they were in started to shake violently. “When we were inside the building, the entire building was shaking, then everyone ran away. Everyone was sitting for at least two hours in the situation. We were in the Prince Pace hotel on the 24th floor, and the building started shaking violently,” he told ANI.

Another international tourist who was in Chinatown in Bangkok at the time told ANI how everyone was panicking the second the tremors were felt. “I was actually in Chinatown, which is another place to shop. All of a sudden, the floor started moving, so I was looking down, and then everybody started screaming, panicking, and everybody tried to exit the market in these little narrow passages,” the tourist, John said.

Remembering the collapse of buildings around them, he added, “We were all pretty scared, running, screaming, pushing to get out of the building. Nothing happened in that market in Chinatown. But as we can see here in Chatuchak, it was a different story... I’m not too sure what building that was. It was under construction and, I guess, 30-storey high. We saw the pictures of the collapse, so I’m sure there’s a lot of people under this rubble.”

Earlier, the under-construction building collapsed in front of JJ Mall in Chatuchak market in Thailand’s capital after the 7.7 earthquake which occurred in Myanmar’s Mandalay, and felt across Thailand, China and Vietnam.