At least 25 people were feared dead in Thailand on Tuesday when a school bus carrying primary school children burst into flames on a highway just north of the capital, Bangkok.
Sixteen children and three teachers managed to escape, the scene of the incident in Pathum Thani, about ten miles north of downtown Bangkok, but 22 pupils and three teachers are unaccounted for, according to Transport Minister Suriyahe Juangroongruangkit who said the bus ran on compressed natural gas, rather than diesel or gasoline.
Royal Thai Police said in an update on social media that the bus was the middle vehicle in a convoy of three buses on a field trip from a school in Uthai Thani Province, about 150 miles northwest of Bangkok.
“The second bus caught fire as it arrived in front of the monument on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road inbound [headed south toward central Bangkok] resulting in several injuries and deaths” they said making no mention of any type of collision.
“At the time of the fire, 19 people were able to get out of the bus. The injured were taken to Rangsit Hospital and Rajavithi hospitals in the city,” said RTP.
However, they said their information was that there were 45 people on board, as opposed to 44, and that they were still investigating the number of people killed.
Local media quoted a rescue worker as saying the vehicle was headed into Bangkok on the Phahon Yothin highway when it collided with a barrier after a tire blew out.
Speaking at the scene Suriyahe called it a “very tragic” incident and pledged to work to ban compressed natural gas from being used in public transport vehicles.
“The ministry must find a measure, if possible, for passenger vehicles like this to be banned from using this type of fuel because it’s extremely risky,” he said.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra dispatched senior ministers to the scene as she pledged the government would pay the medical costs of those injured and provide financial assistance to the families of victims, the state-owned Thai News Agency reported.
“As a mother, I would like to express my deepest regrets to the families of those killed. The government will be responsible for all the medical costs and the compensation for those killed,” TNA quoted her as saying. (UPI)
