Thailand: School bus catches fire outside Bangkok, killing at least 25 people

BANGKOK (AP) — A bus carrying young students and their teachers caught fire in a Bangkok suburb on Tuesday. More than 20 of the inmates feared death, officials and rescuers said.

The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province on a school trip to Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit told reporters at the scene.

Videos posted on social media showed the entire bus engulfed in flames and huge clouds of black smoke rising as it sat on the side of the road. Hours after the fire, bodies were still on the bus.

The students on the bus were reportedly in elementary and middle school.

Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials could not yet confirm the death toll because they had not completed investigating the crime scene. He said the driver survived but apparently fled and has not yet been found.

Anutin had previously said 25 people were feared dead, but Piyalak Thinkaew, a rescuer with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation, later told reporters that two more survivors had been found, reducing the number of those still missing to 23 – three teachers and 20 students.

Rescuers and officials were able to reach the bus hours after the fire was extinguished. Piyalak said they still had not been able to identify the bodies, most of which were found in the middle and back seats, leading them to believe the fire started at the front of the bus.

According to Thai media reports and rescuers, the bus was on its way to Nonthaburi when the fire broke out around midday in Pathum Thani province, a northern suburb of the capital.

A rescuer at the scene told Suriya that the fire probably started after one of the tires exploded and the vehicle hit a roadblock.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her condolences in a post on social media platform X and said the government would take care of medical costs and compensate the victims’ families.

PatRangsit Hospital, located near the scene, said in a news conference that it admitted three young girls, one of whom suffered burns to her face, mouth and eye.