Thai police arrest driver of school bus fire as families identify victims

Thai police have arrested the driver of a bus carrying young students and teachers that caught fire and killed 23 in suburban Bangkok, as families arrived in the capital Wednesday to help identify their loved ones.

The bus carrying six teachers and 39 students in elementary and junior high school was travelling from Uthai Thani province, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Bangkok, for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces Tuesday.

The fire started while the bus was on a highway north of the capital and spread so quickly that many were unable to escape.

Trairong Phiwpan, head of the police forensic department, said 23 bodies were recovered from the bus.

The recovery work and confirmation of the total dead had been delayed earlier because the burned vehicle, which was fueled with natural gas, remained too hot to enter for hours.

The families were driven from Uthai Thani in vans to the forensic department at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok on Wednesday to provide their DNA samples for the identification process.

Kornchai Klaiklung, assistant to the Royal Thai Police chief, told reporters the forensics team was working as fast as it could to identify the victims.

The driver, identified by the police as Saman Chanput, surrendered Tuesday evening several hours after the fire. Police said they have charged him with reckless driving causing deaths and injuries, failing to stop to help others and failing to report the accident.

The driver told investigators he was driving normally until the bus lost balance at its front right tyre, hit another car and scraped a concrete highway barrier, causing the sparks that ignited the blaze, Chayanont Meesati, deputy regional police chief, told reporters.

The driver said he ran to grab a fire extinguisher from another bus that was travelling for the same trip but he could not put out the fire, and ran away because he panicked, Chayanont said.

Police said they are also investigating whether the bus company followed all safety standards.