Rescue teams continued their search of a shoddily-built high-rise building in Bangkok that collapsed during the earthquake last week.

Firefighters and volunteers cut through the remains of the Chinese-built 33-storey high State Audit Office after reportedly hearing voices from under the wreckage, at around 11:30 pm on April 2.

Footage shows personnel digging through the area where the call for help was allegedly heard. A dead body had been collected from the site earlier in the morning.

Cranes were also at the scene to move large cement slabs from areas where signs of life were detected.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said today, April 4, that 22 deaths have been recorded.

An anti-corruption watchdog had earlier flagged alleged irregularities in the construction of the building, which was a joint venture between the local firm Italian Thai Development PCL and the Communist government of China.

David Zhang, a commentator on the abuses of the Communist rogue state, described the collapsed office tower as a 'tofu dreg', as it was the only building to completely crumble in Thailand.

He said: 'It just crumbles, there's really no structure to speak of. Not even any physical resistance seems to have been added to the material there.'

The China expert explained that the Communist government's local subsidiary working on the building was China Railway No.10 Engineering Group Co., Ltd., which is owned by the China Railway Group Limited, which is itself a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corporation.

Authorities said Thailand's Ministry of Industry has taken construction material samples from the site for investigation.

The structure, intended to oversee the country's accounts, had cost 2.13 billion Baht (around 50 million GBP) and began construction in 2020. However, it had run over budget and was behind schedule.

Shockingly, four Chinese nationals were arrested for trying to remove paperwork from the wreckage on March 29, just a day following the deadly quake. The site had been restricted from public access after it was declared a disaster zone by authorities.

The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.7 tremor struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), and was centred in Myanmar, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Monywa, along the Sagaing fault.

Residents ran from their homes when they felt the tremors shortly after 1:20 pm local time on March 28. More than 3,000 people in the country have been killed and some 4,500 injured, with the figures expected to rise.

The quake destroyed buildings, bridges, and dams, leaving many areas in ruins. Communication remains difficult as mobile networks are down, and access to electricity and the internet is limited.