Small town in central Thailand mourning 23 who died in a school bus fire

A tiny municipality successful cardinal Thailand prepared for a somber wide ceremonial Thursday for the 23 children and teachers who died successful a horrific autobus occurrence portion connected a schoolhouse trip.

Some residents and monks waited past midnight astatine Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam, the Buddhist temple successful Lan Sak municipality successful Uthai Thani province, to person the bodies of the dormant returned from Bangkok. Also arriving backmost were relatives of the dormant who went to the Thai superior to assistance place the severely burned victims.

The schoolhouse the children attended is connected the temple grounds, a communal determination for schools successful overmuch of agrarian Thailand.

In the school’s assembly hall, florists came aboriginal to physique a ample show of achromatic flowers successful beforehand of a enactment of coffins with portraits of the dead. An aged pistillate wept successful beforehand of a photograph of a 14-year-old lad earlier limping away, tears streaming down her look and hands tightly clutching a achromatic integrative bag. Relatives enactment food, snacks and beverages arsenic offerings connected apical of the coffins — an enactment of respect symbolically sending nourishment and blessings to those who died.

The day ceremonial was to beryllium attended by the caput of Thailand’s Privy Council arsenic a typical of the royal family. King Maha Vajiralongkorn has declared a royal cremation ceremonial volition beryllium held for the victims adjacent week.

Six teachers and 39 simple and inferior precocious schoolhouse students were connected the autobus that caught occurrence Tuesday connected a road successful suburban Bangkok. It dispersed truthful quickly, lone 22 were capable to escape.

On societal media, parents person expressed nervousness astir sending children connected schoolhouse tract trips arsenic good arsenic heavy outrage astir imaginable information lapses.

Police were investigating whether the occurrence was caused by negligence and filed respective archetypal charges against the driver, including reckless driving and failing to halt to assistance others.

Police person not determined the origin but accidental the operator told them a beforehand tyre malfunctioned and the conveyance past scraped a factual road barrier. The sparks from the friction mightiness person acceptable disconnected highly flammable state canisters connected the bus, constabulary said.

The autobus had 11 state canisters inside, but a licence to instal lone six. Many Thai vehicles usage compressed earthy state for fuel.

The autobus institution proprietor had told nationalist broadcaster ThaiPBS the state cylinders had passed information standards.

Thailand’s Department of Land Transport was implementing urgent inspections of each earthy gas-fueled buses. The section besides volition upgrade its information guidelines to necessitate situation absorption grooming for drivers and information inspection erstwhile specified vehicles are to beryllium commissioned by schools, said Seksom Akraphand, the agency’s lawman director-general.