Driver Arrested After 23 Killed in School Bus Fire

UPDATE Oct 2, 2024 3:00 AM CDT

Thai police have arrested the driver of a bus carrying young students and teachers that caught fire and killed 23 in suburban Bangkok, as families arrived in the capital Wednesday to help identify their loved ones, the AP reports. The head of the police forensic department said 23 bodies were recovered from the bus, which was carrying six teachers and 39 students in elementary and junior high school. The driver, identified by the police as Saman Chanput, surrendered Tuesday evening several hours after the fire. Police said they have charged him with reckless driving causing deaths and injuries, failing to stop to help others, and failing to report the accident. The driver told investigators he was driving normally until the bus lost balance at its front right tire, hit another car and scraped a concrete highway barrier, causing the sparks that ignited the blaze.

Oct 1, 2024 7:00 AM CDT

A bus carrying young students with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday, with more than 20 of those on board feared dead, officials and rescuers said. The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces, Thai Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit told reporters at the scene, per the AP. Videos posted on social media showed the entire bus engulfed in fire, with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it stood on the side of the road. Bodies were still inside the bus hours after the fire. The students on the bus were reported to be in elementary and junior high school.

Thailand Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials couldn't yet confirm the number of fatalities because they hadn't finished investigating the scene. He said the driver survived but appeared to have fled and hasn't yet been found. Anutin had earlier said 25 were feared dead, but Piyalak Thinkaew, a rescuer with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation told reporters later 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 access the bus hours after the fire was put out. Piyalak said they were still unable to identify the bodies, most of which were found in the middle and back seats, leading them to assume that the fire started at the front of the bus.

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Thai media reports and rescuers said the bus was heading to Nonthaburi when the fire started around noon in Pathum Thani province, a northern suburb of the capital. A rescuer at the scene told Suriya that the fire likely started after one of the tires exploded and the vehicle scraped against a road barrier. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra offered her condolences in a post on the social media platform X, saying the government would take care of medical expenses and compensate the victims' families. A hospital located near the scene said in a news conference that it admitted three young girls, one of whom suffered burns to the face, mouth, and eye.

(More Thailand stories.)