BANGKOK — A bus filled with schoolchildren and teachers caught fire just outside Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people.
There were 23 bodies found on the double-decker bus, Police Lt. Gen. Trairong Phiwpan, chief of the Police Forensic Science Office, told reporters. Nineteen other people were injured, a doctor told reporters.
Rescue workers were still trying to recover the bodies from the wreckage Tuesday evening, according to Thailand’s interior minister, Anutin Charnvirakul. He did not give an official death toll.
Photographs showed the bus was completely charred by the fire. Anutin added that the bus was powered by compressed natural gas, a fuel that makes vehicles more prone to fire compared with diesel.
The driver fled the scene, Anutin said.
The bus was one of three that were carrying children and teachers from the province of Uthai Thani, which is northwest of Bangkok. They were returning from a school field trip to the ancient temples of Ayutthaya. The school’s students range in age from 4 to 15 years old.
The episode occurred about 12:30 p.m. on a road in Pathum Thani on the northern outskirts of the capital. The fire happened after a tire exploded, causing the bus to zigzag and hit a barrier, according to Pornprapa Aundonkloy, a teacher who was on another bus. The interior minister provided a similar account.
When the other bus arrived at the scene, two young students jumped off the bus, Pornprapa told local reporters. She carried them and said their bodies were swollen from the fire.
Pornprapa said that only the front door of the bus could open. “If the back door could open, more children would have survived,” she added.
The fire happened so quickly that teachers onboard could not grab their phones, according to the Royal Thai Police’s acting national police chief, Police Gen. Kittirat Panpetch. Several teachers could get out through the door, but some students were forced to jump through the windows.
“The rest were probably shocked and couldn’t come out,” Kittirat said. “We are in the process of checking who are those children.”
Dr. Anocha Takham, a surgeon from PatRangsit Hospital, said the facility received three female patients, including a child whose corneas were burned.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was teary as she spoke about the incident and said the government would cover all medical costs and compensation.
“As a mother, I would like to express my deepest regrets to the families of those killed,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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