A bus full of schoolchildren has caught fire in Bangkok with more than 20 feared dead, officials and rescuers have said.
The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces, transport minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit said.
Footage shows the bus engulfed in flames with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it stood on the side of the road.
The students on the bus were reported to be primary school and young secondary school age.
Three teachers and 20 students remain unaccounted for rescuer Piyalak Thinkaew said.
Interior minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials could not yet confirm the number of fatalities because they had not finished investigating the scene.
He said the driver survived but appeared to have fled and could not yet be found.
Rescuers and officials were able to access the bus hours after the fire was put out.
Mr 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 had started at the front of the bus.
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 Mr Suriya that the fire likely started after one of the tyres exploded and the vehicle scraped against a road barrier.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra offered her condolences in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, saying the government would take care of medical expenses and compensate the victims’ families.
The patRangsit Hospital, which is located near the scene, said in a news conference that it had admitted three young girls, one of whom suffered burns to the face, mouth and eye.
Speaking on the roadside, one teacher said: ‘We are from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani with three buses.
‘The incident occurred on the second bus.’
A driver of one of the school vehicles in the convoy told local media that he saw the front wheel of the bus explode before flames appeared.
A witness said they heard an explosion before seeing the bus travelling at high speed, followed by an accident with a burst of flames and smoke.
Another witness said that officers were hesitant to approach the scene while the bus was burning, prompting students to huddle together inside the vehicle.
The owner of the rented coaches from the Chinnaboot Tour company said that his buses picked up students at their school in Uthai Thani before travelling to the head office of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand for a school trip.
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