'Entire building was shaken, then everyone ran': Indian tourists return to Delhi from Bangkok after earthquake; recount harrowing experiences

7.7 magnitude earthquake that was felt across Myanmar, Thailand, China, and Vietnam, Indian tourists in Bangkok safely returned to New Delhi Airport on Saturday, recounting the difficulties they faced in getting back home.

Speaking to ANI at Delhi airport, Bharati Khurana described the challenges they encountered due to emergency closures in the city. «The situation is fine now, but yesterday it was very bad. We went out to the market, but it was closed due to the emergency.

We had a lot of trouble there. We couldn’t even get a taxi to the airport,» she said, adding that even emergency vehicles were unavailable at the time.

Another Indian tourist, Pranav, recalled the moment panic set in as their hotel building began shaking violently. «When we were inside the building, the entire structure was shaking, and then everyone ran away.

We sat outside for at least two hours. We were in the Prince Palace Hotel on the 24th floor when the shaking started,» he told ANI.

John, an international tourist who was in Bangkok’s Chinatown at the time, described the panic when the tremors struck. «I was actually in Chinatown, which is another place to shop.

All of a sudden, the floor started moving. I looked down, and then everybody started screaming and panicking, trying to exit the market through these little narrow passages,» he told ANI.

Recounting the collapse of buildings around them, John 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.