25 students, teachers feared dead after school bus catches fire in Bangkok

About 25 people were killed and 16 passengers hospitalized in Thailand on Tuesday when a school bus carrying students and teachers on a field trip caught fire on the outskirts of the capital Bangkok, the government said.

Police could not immediately confirm the number of injuries or deaths, but Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that 25 people were believed to be dead, without elaborating.

Transport Minister Surya Zhuangroongkit said 16 students and three teachers were sent to hospital for treatment, adding that the cause of the incident was yet to be investigated.

Initial images posted on social media and carried by local news outlets showed thick ash billowing from the bus, parts of which were still on fire.

Later the fire was extinguished.

A Reuters photographer saw fire trucks, police and rescue vehicles parked around the blackened vehicle, with a group of firefighters at the entrance.

Prime Minister Paytongtarn Shinawatra said the students were on a field trip from Uthai Thani province, about 250 km (155 miles) north of the capital.

“As a mother, my deepest condolences to the families,” she said in a social media post on X.