AT LEAST 25 people including children are feared to dead after a school bus carrying year three pupils tragically burst into flames in Thailand.
The bus was taking 44 people – schoolchildren and teachers -from the central Uthai Thani province to Ayutthaya on a school trip.
Social media footage shows the entire bus engulfed in fire with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as firefighters battled to put out the inferno.
Shocking pictures reveal how severely the double decker bus was damaged – with almost its entire body blackened as it was parked on the road.
Firemen took the children who were able to escape the blaze into a nearby building, where they were seen being counted.
The coach was carrying kids from the Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam school before it caught fire on a road in Pathum Thani province, near Bangkok at around 12.38pm.
The owner of Chinnaboot Tour company said his buses picked up students from school before travelling to the head office of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
A rescuer at the scene said that the fire likely started after one of the bus’s tires exploded and the vehicle scraped against a road barrier.
One teacher said on the roadside: “We are from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani with three buses. The incident occurred on the second bus.”
A driver of one of the school vehicles in the convoy told local media that he saw the front wheel of the bus explode before flames appeared.
A witness said they heard an explosion before seeing the bus travelling quickly before bursting into flames and smoke.
Another witness said they saw school pupils huddle together inside the vehicle as officers were hesitant to approach the scene while the bus was still burning.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said bodies were still inside the bus hours after it caught fire and the bus was still too hot for them to enter safely.
The Thai government has said that sixteen students and three teachers were hospitalised but fear that a total of 25 are dead.
A local rescue group said on Facebook that they found at least 10 bodies on the bus.
Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said the causes of the incident were still be investigated.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra offered her condolences in a post on social media platform X.
She said the Thai government would take care of medical expenses and compensate the victims families.
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