Bangkok, Thailand:

A deadly fire broke out on a bus in Thailand on Tuesday carrying 44 students and teachers on a school trip, officials said, with up to 25 feared dead.

Prime Minister Patongtern Shinawatra said there had been casualties and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

Transport Minister Surya Jangrangkat said the death toll was not clear but 25 people were missing after the fire.

“Initial reports say there are 44, 38 students and six teachers on board. As far as we know, three teachers and 16 students have walked out,” he told reporters.

“Those who are still missing, we are not clear yet.”

In footage broadcast on local TV, an aid worker said the bus was carrying students from Uthai Thani province when a tire burst on a highway in the northern Bangkok suburbs, causing the vehicle to crash into a barrier. .

The rescue worker said that the bus was running on compressed gas and its fuel tanks caught fire due to the accident.

Video footage from the scene shows the bus engulfed in flames as it burns under an overpass, billowing thick black smoke into the sky.

“I have learned of a fire in a bus carrying students from Uthai Thani… resulting in deaths and injuries,” Petongtern wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the injured and the deceased.”

A rescue worker said the fire had been brought under control but rescue workers had to wait for the bus to cool down before searching for the bodies.

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

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A school bus caught fire in Thailand



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