25 students, teachers feared dead as school bus catches fire in Bangkok
Bangkok: At least 25 people, including students, are feared dead after a school bus caught fire in Uthai Thani, Thailand. Fire and rescue teams are at the scene, while several injured persons have been admitted to a nearby hospital.
Rescue workers are currently trying to rescue the remaining children. The cause of the fire has not been revealed yet. However, eyewitnesses present at the spot have said that the fire broke out due to a tire burst on the bus.
According to the Bangkok Post, the bus was carrying students from a school in Uthai Thani when it caught fire. Rescue workers said that several young passengers were killed or injured in the flames. The Jor Sor 100 traffic radio network reported the bus caught fire on the inbound Phahon Yothin Road near the Zir Rangsit shopping mall at 12.30 pm. Fire and Rescue Thailand and Thai PBS said the bus was carrying 38 students and six teachers from Wat Khao Praya Sangkharam in Uthai Thani’s Lan Sak district for an educational trip. Their destination was not known. Traffic police radio said several passengers were killed or injured.
Thailand’s Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit told reporters at the scene that the bus was carrying 44 people and was heading from central Uthai Thani province to Ayutthaya in Bangkok for a school trip when the bus caught fire in the afternoon in the capital’s northern suburb Pathum Thani province.
Home Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said authorities could not yet confirm the death toll because they had not finished investigating the scene. He said up to 25 people were feared dead based on the number of survivors. He also said the bus was still too hot to get inside safely.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Patongtarn Shinawatra has expressed condolences to the families of the children who lost their lives in the accident. The country’s Home Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that even after the rescue workers arrived, the bus was so hot that it was very difficult to get inside it. Because of this, the bodies remained in the bus for a long time after the accident. The dead have not been identified yet.
