More than 20 children feared dead in Thailand bus crash

More than 20 children feared dead in Thailand bus crash
More than 20 children feared dead in Thailand bus crash

We show you our most important and recent visitors news details More than 20 children feared dead in Thailand bus crash in the following article

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BANGKOK — A bus carrying dozens of primary school children has crashed and caught fire just outside the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Sixteen children and three teachers are reported to have escaped, but 22 pupils and three teachers are still unaccounted for, according to the country's transport minister.

Thailand's prime minister said the accident resulted in "deaths and injuries" - but the exact number of fatalities has not yet been confirmed.

Photographs show the bus completely destroyed by the fire. Investigators are said to have been unable to enter the vehicle because of the heat, according to local media.

Eight of the 19 people who managed to escape were sent to hospital for treatment, a health ministry official said.

The bus was one of three that were carrying children and teachers returning from a school field trip in the northern province of Uthai Thani.

Transport Minister Suriyahe Juangroongruangkit said the bus was powered by "extremely risky" compressed natural gas.

"This is a very tragic incident," Suriyahe told reporters at the scene.

"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."

Thailand's prime minister, meanwhile, has ordered ministers to visit the scene.

"As a mother, I would like to express my deepest regrets to the families of those killed," Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.

"The government will be responsible for all the medical costs and the compensation for those killed," she added.

Piyalak Thinkaew, who is leading the search, said the bodies of those killed were so badly burned, it was hard to identify them.

"Some of the bodies we found were very, very small," he told reporters at the scene, adding that the fire started at the front of the bus.

"The kids' instinct was to escape to the back so the bodies were there," he said.

The bus was travelling on a highway into Bangkok when a tyre burst, sending it crashing into a barrier, a rescue worker said in footage broadcast on local television.

Video footage from the scene showed flames engulfing the bus as it burned under an overpass, huge clouds of dense black smoke billowing into the sky.

The driver has fled the site of the crash but authorities are confident he will be tracked down, according to Thailand's Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who spoke to reporters at the scene.

The ages of the children on board remain unclear, but the school has pupils between three and 15 years old.

Thailand has one of the worst road safety records in the world, with unsafe vehicles and poor driving contributing to roughly 20,000 fatalities a year. — BBC


These were the details of the news More than 20 children feared dead in Thailand bus crash for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Saudi Gazette and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

PREV Thirty years on: Nobel Peace Prize hopes for Mideast shattered by decades of conflict
NEXT What to expect from Nato’s new chief Mark Rutte? Don’t expect a revolution, just steady leadership in turbulent times

Author Information

I have been an independent financial adviser for over 11 years in the city and in recent years turned my experience in finance and passion for journalism into a full time role. I perform analysis of Companies and publicize valuable information for shareholder community. Address: 2077 Sharon Lane Mishawaka, IN 46544, USA Phone: (+1) 574-255-1083 Email: [email protected]