Inferno bus owner ‘tried to hide illegal gas cylinders’

Officials check gas cylinders on a bus owned by Chinnaboot Engineering at the Department of Land Transport in Nakhon Ratchasima after seizing five of the company’s buses from a garage in Muang district of the northeastern province on Thursday. (Photos: Prasit Tangprasert)
Officials check gas cylinders on a bus owned by Chinnaboot Engineering at the Department of Land Transport in Nakhon Ratchasima after seizing five of the company’s buses from a garage in Muang district of the northeastern province on Thursday. (Photos: Prasit Tangprasert)

The owner of the bus that caught fire and killed 23 students and teachers in Pathum Thani tried to hide some gas cylinders on other buses in the same fleet, according to the Department of Land Transport.

After the company failed to send five buses for inspection on Thursday as ordered, officials found them via GPS at a garage in Nakhon Ratchasima and seized them while their gas cylinders were being removed, the department said.

Additional cylinders that had been illegally installed on the buses were being removed at the garage, the department said.

The five buses were part of a six-bus fleet which included the bus that caught fire and killed 20 students and three teachers from Uthai Thani during a field trip on Tuesday.

The bus involved in Tuesday’s tragedy had been in service for more than 50 years and had been modified multiple times. It had been refitted to use gas but the installation was not up to standard. The licence of its Sing Buri-based operator, Chinnaboot Engineering (Thailand) Co, has been suspended pending further investigations.

Police said the bus had more cylinders than permitted and there was clear evidence of wrongdoing.

Investigators found 11 gas cylinders in the bus but only six had been legally installed and certified by land transport authorities.

Forensic police have determined that gas had leaked out before the fire but they have yet to determine conclusively how the fire was started.

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Vocabulary

  • additional: more; more than was first mentioned or is usual - ที่เพิ่มขึ้น
  • certified: having a document confirming that someone or something meets a necessary standard - ที่มีการรับรอง
  • conclusively (adv): in a way that proves something, and that allows no doubt or confusion - อย่างแน่นอน
  • cylinder: an object shaped like a wide tube; a metal container for gas or liquid - กระบอก
  • fleet: a group of vehicles, planes, boats, or trains, especially when they are owned by one organisation or person - กลุ่มรถแท๊กซี่, รถโดยสาร, หรือเครื่องบินที่อยู่ในบริษัทเดียวกัน
  • hide: to cover something so that it cannot be seen; to keep something secret - ซ่อน, ซุกซ่อน, ปกปิด
  • inferno: a very large dangerous fire - เพลิงไหม้ครั้งใหญ่
  • inspection: an official process of checking that things are in the correct condition or that people are doing what they should - การตรวจสอบตรวจตรา
  • modified (verb): changed slightly, especially in order to improve it or use it in different way - ดัดแปลง; ถูกดัดแปลง
  • officials: people who have the power to make decisions or enforce the law - เจ้าหน้าที่ผู้มีอำนาจ
  • standard: a (high) level of quality - มาตรฐาน
  • suspend: to stop for a period of time - ยกเลิกชั่วคราว, ระงับชั่วคราว
  • tragedy: a very sad event that causes people to suffer or die - โศกนาฏกรรม
  • wrongdoing: breaking the law or doing something "wrong" - กระทำผิดศีลธรรม, ละเมิดกฎหมาย

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