By Napat Wesshasartar and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) -No less than 23 individuals died in Thailand when a faculty bus carrying greater than 40 college students and lecturers on a area journey caught fireplace within the outskirts of the capital Bangkok, police mentioned on Tuesday.

Twenty three our bodies have been recognized, Trairong Phiwpan, forensic science commissioner instructed reporters, with an investigation on the causes underway.

Sixteen college students and three lecturers had been despatched to a hospital for therapy, Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit mentioned.

Pictures posted on social media and carried by native information shops confirmed thick gray smoke pouring out of the bus, elements of which had been nonetheless on fireplace.

The blaze was later extinguished. A Reuters photographer noticed fireplace vans, police and rescue autos parked across the blackened automobile, with a cluster of firefighters on the entrance.

“Teachers told us that the fire ignited very quickly,” appearing police chief Kittirat Phanphet instructed a press convention.

“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 mentioned, including that some college students escaped by the window.

“We are investigating all individuals, including the bus company to see if this was a case of negligence.”

The bus was a automobile (NGV), in keeping with Transport Minister Suriya.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra mentioned the scholars had been on a area journey from the province of Uthai Thani, about 250km (155 miles) north of the capital.

“As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families,” she mentioned in a social media publish on X.