Rescue teams continued the search for trapped survivors and bodies at a shoddily built skyscraper that collapsed in Bangkok during an earthquake.

Footage shows personnel digging through the rubble of the 33-storey State Audit Office on April 3.

The skyscraper, built by a Communist China state enterprise, had crumbled in a cloud of dust and debris on March 28, killing at least 22 workers. Up to 79 more remain missing.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said substandard steel used in the construction may have contributed to the collapse.

She said: 'Progress updates have been continuously reported, and the issue of sub-standard steel is one of the clearer aspects.'

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 had cost 2.13 billion Baht (around 50 million GBP) and began construction in 2020. It had run over-budget and behind schedule, with allegations that the project.

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 2,700 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.