Multiple deaths in school bus fire in Thailand

Kathmandu: A devastating fire tore through a Thai bus carrying 44 students and teachers on a school trip.

Officials said, with up to 25 feared dead on Tuesday. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said there were fatalities and offered condolences to the victims’ families. Transport minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said the number of fatalities was not clear but 25 people were unaccounted for after the blaze.

‘Initial reports said there are 44 on board, 38 students and six teachers. As far as we know now, three teachers and 16 students got out’ said Minister Jungrungreangkit to reporters. The bus was carrying students from Uthai Thani province when a tyre burst on a highway in a northern Bangkok suburb, sending the vehicle crashing into a barrier, a rescue worker said in footage broadcast on local TV.

Rescue worker said the bus was running on compressed gas and the crash ignited its fuel tanks. Prime Minister  Paetongtarn wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the injured and deceased.’

Thailand has one of the worst road safety records in the world, with unsafe vehicles and poor driving contributing to the high annual death toll.

RSS/AFP