At least 22 schoolchildren and three teachers were killed in a school bus fire in Thailand on Tuesday, Thai media reported.
The bus, carrying children from Wat Khao Praya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani province, caught fire on a road in Pathum Thani, on the outskirts of Bangkok.
The flames instantly engulfed the entire body of the bus, which was directly under the overpass at the time of the incident. Thick black clouds of smoke rose into the sky as firefighters struggled to extinguish the flames.
Local officials said the bus was carrying 44 students and teachers who were returning from a school field trip. There are fears that 25 passengers on the bus could be killed.
The group was in the Thai capital on a one-day sightseeing trip. According to preliminary reports, the students were aged between three and nine years old.
Reacting to the incident, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said:
As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the injured and deceased. The government will take care of the medical expenses and provide compensation to the families of the deceased.
Local media noted that the cause of the tragedy could have been the exploded front tyre of the bus. This caused the car to spin out of control and hit a metal fence on the side of the road.
