On Tuesday, a tragic fire broke out on a bus in suburban Bangkok after a tire burst. The bus, which was carrying 44 people, was on a school trip from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani province to Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces.
On X, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed her deep condolences to the victims’ families, promising to cover medical costs and offer compensation to those affected. “As a mother, I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the injured and deceased,” she wrote.
The tire of the bus was bursted, causing the bus to crash into the barrier. The bus was powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), and the tanks ignited due to the crash. Soon, the bus was engulfed in fire.
Netizens have shared the video footage on social media, which shows the bus engulfed in flames, with thick black smoke rising from under an overpass.
The bus driver survived but has fled, and authorities are searching for him to understand more about what caused the accident.
Out of the 44 people on the bus, 16 students and three teachers were able to escape. However, around 23 others, mostly students, are still unknown, and rescuers fear they may have died in the fire. Many students were trapped in the back of the bus, as the fire started in the front.
“The kids’ instinct was to escape to the back so the bodies were there,” Piyalak Thinkaew, who is leading the search, told reporters at the scene.
There have been reports of very small bodies discovered, suggesting that the victims were small children.
“Some of the bodies we rescued were very, very small. They must have been very young in age,” Piyalak added.
The fire took hours to fully extinguish, delaying the rescue efforts. Identifying the victims has been challenging because of the intensity of the fire.
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