20 students, 3 teachers die in bus fire
published : 1 Oct 2024 at 16:22
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Online Reporters
Twenty students and three teachers on a field trip were killed by a fire that tore through their bus in Pathum Thani on Tuesday.
Sixteen students and three teachers were sent to nearby hospitals for treatment.
The bus was carrying 38 students, from Kindergarten 2 to Matthayom 3, and six teachers from Wat Khao Praya Sangkharam school in Lam Sak district of Uthai Thani.
Police confirmed 23 students and three teachers died, trapped in the fire on the bus.
Nineteen people were rescued. They were taken to local hospitals.
Rescue workers said 15 of the dead passengers were primary school pupils and six were high schoolers. Six kindergarten pupils on the bus survived.
Police were told about noon that a bus was on fire on an inbound lane of Vibhavadi Rangsit and Phahon Yothin roads, near the Zeer Rangsit shopping centre in Pathum Thani.
Rescuers said the bus's front left tyre had blown out and the wheel caught fire. The driver lost control, the bus hit the road barrier and the flames rapidly spread up and throughout the vehicle.
The bus was the second of a three-bus fleet taking students on a one-day educational trip.
The bus belonged to Chinnaboot Tour, based in Sing Buri.
The driver of the bus, identified as Samarn Chankut, initially fled the scene and his mobile phone was turned off, police said.
It was later reported that he had fled to Ang Thong but then turned himself in to police there on Tuesday night. He is now being held at Khu Khot police station in Pathum Thani.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra sent condolence messages to the families of those who lost their lives or were injured and said the government would be cover medical costs and provide financial aid to the victims and the bereaved families.
Vocabulary
- aid: help; assistance - ความช่วยเหลือ
- barrier: an object like a fence or wall that prevents people/vehicles, etc. from moving forward from one place to another - สิ่งขัดขวาง, กำแพง, อุปสรรค
- bereavement: the state of having lost a relative or close friend because they have died - การสูญเสียญาติหรือเพื่อสนิท
- condolence (noun): sympathy and sadness for the family or close friends of a person who has recently died, or an expression of this, especially in written form - การแสดงความเสียใจต่อผู้อื่น
- flame: the brightly burning gas that you see coming from a fire - ไฟ (คบเพลิงโอลิมปิค)
- fleet: a group of vehicles, planes, boats, or trains, especially when they are owned by one organisation or person - กลุ่มรถแท๊กซี่, รถโดยสาร, หรือเครื่องบินที่อยู่ในบริษัทเดียวกัน
- inbound: travelling towards a particular point, particularly into a city - ขาเข้า (opposite of outbound ขาออก)
- rescue: to save a person or animal from a dangerous or unpleasant situation - ช่วยชีวิต
- rescuer: a person whose job is to save someone from a dangerous or unpleasant situation - ผู้ช่วยชีวิต
- scene: site; a place where something happens or happened - สถานที่เกิดเหตุ
- tyre (noun): (American: "tire") a thick rubber ring that fits around the edge of a wheel of a car, bicycle, etc. - ยางรถ
- vehicle: a machine that you travel in or on, especially one with an engine that travels on roads, e.g., a car, bus, van, truck, etc. - ยานพาหนะ
- Keywords
- fire
- school bus
- pahon yothin road