Bangkok school bus blaze claims 23 lives

At least 23 people died in Thailand when a school bus carrying more than 40 students and teachers on a field trip caught fire in the outskirts of the capital Bangkok, police said on Tuesday.

Twenty three bodies have been identified, Trairong Phiwpan, forensic science commissioner told reporters, with an investigation on the causes underway. Sixteen students and three teachers were sent to a hospital for treatment, Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said.

Images on social media and carried by local news outlets showed thick grey smoke pouring out of the bus, parts of which were still on fire. The blaze was later extinguished. A photographer saw fire trucks, police and rescue vehicles parked around the blackened vehicle, with a cluster of firefighters at the entrance. “Teachers told us that the fire ignited very quickly,” a police official said.