PERSONAL: Korean man recounts jumping across splitting Bangkok skyscraper to reunite with family

Record ID: 1987548

  • Title: PERSONAL: Korean man recounts jumping across splitting Bangkok skyscraper to reunite with family
  • Date: 1st April 2025
  • Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (APRIL 1, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 36-YEAR-OLD KOREAN NATIONAL, KWON YOUNGJUN, SAYING: "I thought, ‘I have to survive this and get to my wife and child,’ so I kept going down with everything I had.” VARIOUS OF KWON AT HOME, CARRYING HIS DAUGHTER AND STANDING NEXT TO HIS WIFE, SUKANYA ALIN SMILING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 36-YEAR-OLD KOREAN NATIONA
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Bangkok Myanmar Thailand earthquake evacuation jump leap residents skyscraper tower splitting
  • Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • City: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA007323701042025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A 36-year-old Korean man recounted the day he leapt across a splitting bridge connecting two skyscraper buildings in Bangkok due to an earthquake that is centered 1000 kilometer away in Myanmar.
    Kwon Youngjun's only thought was to get to his wife and daughter.
    In eyewitness footage, water can be seen spilling out from a high-rise pool and debris can be seen falling from the building, before a section of a connecting bridge in its upper floors breaks off.
    Reuters was able to confirm the location by buildings facades and trees which matched file and satellite imagery of the area as well as the coordinates included in the original file metadata.
    Another video, taken by a Thai reporter, showed a close up of the bridge as Kwon can be seen jumping across a split second before the bridge split up during the swaying.
    "There was no time to think. I just moved instinctively—ran, reacted, focused only on moving forward. That was all I could do," he told Reuters days after the incident, adding he ran down 52 flights of stairs jumping at three steps each until he reached the ground.
    "I thought, ‘I have to survive this and get to my wife and child,’ so I kept going down with everything I had," he said.
    Meanwhile, his Thai wife, 35-year-old Sukanya Yatuam, her 13-month-old daughter known by her nickname 'Alin' and her nanny also made their way to the ground floor as the earthquake rattled their apartment on the 30th floor.
    She had no idea at the time where her husband was and still could not imagine his ordeal when he told her, until she saw the footage on a Thai TV channel that showed a close of the bridge and seeing her husband jumping between the two buildings.
    "I was so shocked because the split second that he jumped over the bridge split. It was a moment of life or death. I'm getting goosebumps right now talking about it," Sukanya said.
    Since Friday, the couple has moved back to their home in the outskirts of Bangkok and rarely goes back to the apartment on the high-rise building.
    Kwon has sprained much of his leg muscles from running and jumping down the flights of stairs. He has been advised by doctors to do some exercises at home to alleviate the tensed muscles and has to go see the doctor every three days.
    But with a smiling face, Kwon said he is 'thankful' he was able to see his wife and daughter when he reached ground that fateful day.
    (Production: Zaw Naing Oo, Juarawee Kittisilpa)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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