Funerals held for children and teachers burned alive in Thai school bus fire

The bodies of 23 young pupils and teachers burned alive in a bus fire were returned to a school for a funeral in central Thailand.

Grieving families received the remains that arrived in a convoy at the Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani province amid heavy rain late at night on October 2. There will be a religious ceremony and cremation today, October 3.

Heartbreaking footage shows relatives sobbing as coffins and portraits of the deceased were wheeled through an assembly hall at the school.

Buddhist workers and rescue workers led the short procession to offer prayers for the casualties.

Rescue worker Bin Bunluerit, special affairs manager of the Ruam Katanyu Foundation, said the bodies arrived in batches after DNA testing was completed earlier in the afternoon.

He said: 'I am speechless. This tragedy is heart-wrenching. I can imagine how the parents felt, sending their children on a school field trip to learn only for the kids to die like this.'

The heavily modified 54-year-old coach running on CNG gas burst into flames in Pathum Thani shortly after 12:30 pm local time on October 1.

It was said to have lost control when a front tyre blew out. A fire reportedly started in the undercarriage as the vehicle hit the concrete road barriers.

Officials said the youngsters from the Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani were on an educational visit to an electricity plant when the incident happened. They were aged between seven and 15 years old.

Authorities said at least 23 people were killed.

The bus driver, Saman Chankut, 48, allegedly fled after briefly trying to battle the inferno at the scene. He was caught hiding in his wife's house in Ang Thong province on October 1 evening.

claimed he had tried to find a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, but ran away when he saw it grow uncontrollably. He said he panicked and fled to a relative's house to escape authorities.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said: 'As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families.'

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.