School bus fire in Thailand kills 23

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 yesterday.

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, Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said. Images posted on social media showed thick grey smoke pouring out of the bus, parts of which were still on fire. The blaze was later extinguished.

A Reuters 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," police chief Kittirat Phanphet said. "From speaking to witnesses, we believe the explosion was caused by a spark from the tyre that lit the gas cylinder that was powering the vehicle," he said, adding that some students escaped through the window.