Condition of bus under scrutiny as 20 Myanmar migrants perish in fire

[rooster59]

Condition of bus under scrutiny as 20 Myanmar migrants perish in fire

By The Nation

 

 

A CHARTERED double-decker bus taking 47 registered Myanmar workers to Pathum Thani province caught fire in Tak’s Muang district early yesterday, killing 20 of them trapped inside, police said.

 

A Thai academic raised questions over the bus’s condition, speed and the likelihood of it being overloaded as possible contributing factors to the tragedy.

 

Rescuers said the 20 badly burnt bodies were found piled up on one another near the exit doors.

 

 

With the corpses burnt beyond recognition and documents lost in the blaze, they must be individually identified before being handed over to relatives. They were in the afternoon sent 150 kilometres to two better-equipped hospitals in Phitsanulok – Buddhachinaraj Hospital and Naresuan Hospital – to undergo the disaster victim identification process. 

 

 

Tak Governor Charoenrit Sa-nguansat and Tak police chief Pol Maj-General Parinya Wisitphakul, who inspected the scene together in the morning, said they would coordinate with state agencies to help relatives enter Thailand and retrieve the bodies. 

Three other Myanmar workers, who were seriously injured with burns all over their body when they jumped out of the bus, were sent for treatment in Phitsanulok, said Charoenrit. The unnamed Thai bus driver, his assistant and his wife – as well as 24 other Myanmar workers – escaped uninjured.

 

 

After receiving the fire report at 1am, Mae Tho police and fire-fighters rushed to Highway No 12 to find the entire bus engulfed in fire, which was quickly extinguished. Police said the 47 Myanmar workers had proper documents and were travelling from the border checkpoint in Tak’s Mae Sot district heading to the Navanakorn Industrial Estate in Pathum Thani. Survivors said the fire started in the middle of the bus and spread quickly, trapping those in the back.

 

The governor said the 47 workers aboard the bus were part of a group of 186 legally registered migrants travelling on four buses to Pathum Thani.

 

Charoenrit said the cause of the crash and fire was already being investigated. He expressed the personal view that with the road in excellent condition and with no collision involved, the crash might have stemmed from the condition of the bus, human error or recklessness. Charoenrit said he would ask the provincial transport office and related agencies to implement stricter road safety measures in future, especially during the upcoming Songkran Festival. 

 

Meanwhile, Dr Thanapong Jinawong, chief of the Road Safety Policy Foundation, suggested the bus was overloaded with 47 passengers onboard (excluding the Thai driver and two accompanying persons), while a bus of that design was limited to a capacity of 40 people. 

 

 

Thanapong asked whether the extra people were blocking their escape. He also said the authorities must check why the fire spread unusually fast. With the bus chartered to run out of its usual district-to-district route schedule, he questioned whether the Land Transport Office had been informed about this and whether the bus had undergone the required maintenance check-up and safety gear inspection. A district-level bus would not carry a GPS device, so the authority could not control or trace how fast the bus was travelling when the fire broke out, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30342127

 

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-31

[NCC1701A]

RIP victims of the do nothing Thai police and Thai government.

[marko kok prong]

I doubt the investigation will go much further,they were Burmese after all ,not Kon Thai.

[Krataiboy]

What do they run on to go in flames so disastrously quickly - lighter fuel?

[Russell17au]

7 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

What do they run on to go in flames so disastrously quickly - lighter fuel?

They run on diesel, but that is not what caused this fire and it is not what made the fire consume the coach so quickly.

The interior of this bus is built from exactly the same materials as those that are built in UK, USA, Europe and Australia and that is the seats are made from foam rubber, nylon, plastic, the inner sides of the bus are lined with foam insulation covered with nylon and the ceiling of the bus is the same as the inner walls. This fire did not start in the engine bay as the engine is located in the rear of the bus and witnesses have stated that the fire started in the middle of the bus.

Many people want to point the finger at Thailand about these type of incidents but they are that biased that they do not bother to look at the rest of the world. In Germany there are between 350-400 reported bus fires every year and in Finland the bus fires have nearly doubled over the last 10 years and in America it is reported that there are 6 bus fires each day and in January this year there were 52 people died in a bus fire in Kazakhstan so when you have an honest look at the bus fires Thailand is no worse than any other country. Remember that this is not an accident involving a collision with another vehicle or any other object, it is a fire

[rkidlad]

1 hour ago, Russell17au said:

They run on diesel, but that is not what caused this fire and it is not what made the fire consume the coach so quickly.

The interior of this bus is built from exactly the same materials as those that are built in UK, USA, Europe and Australia and that is the seats are made from foam rubber, nylon, plastic, the inner sides of the bus are lined with foam insulation covered with nylon and the ceiling of the bus is the same as the inner walls. This fire did not start in the engine bay as the engine is located in the rear of the bus and witnesses have stated that the fire started in the middle of the bus.

Many people want to point the finger at Thailand about these type of incidents but they are that biased that they do not bother to look at the rest of the world. In Germany there are between 350-400 reported bus fires every year and in Finland the bus fires have nearly doubled over the last 10 years and in America it is reported that there are 6 bus fires each day and in January this year there were 52 people died in a bus fire in Kazakhstan so when you have an honest look at the bus fires Thailand is no worse than any other country. Remember that this is not an accident involving a collision with another vehicle or any other object, it is a fire

Why don’t you send this reply to the victims’ families. I’m sure it will ease their pain knowing about all the bus fires in countries like Germany. Germany have clearly set the standard when it comes to accepting bus fires as a way of life. 

[Stargeezr]

Outlaw all double deck buses and force them to be sincle deck vehicles. These death traps

should not be on the roads anywhere.

Geezer

[Grumpy Duck]

16 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

What do they run on to go in flames so disastrously quickly - lighter fuel?

From the trucks I have seen I would suspect perhaps CNG or LPG. 

Perhaps a leaking fuel line or tank was the cause of the fire. Just guessing. 

[djayz]

It's too late to scrutinize the condition of the busses AFTER accidents - these should be checked on a regular basis. 

Be PRO-active.

If bus companies can't regulate themselves, then the authorities need to step in and regulate them. 

[mok199]

come to pattaya any given day and look for yourselves ,these disgusting buses and their drivers are the main reason this city has become just a clogged up toilet ,for low budget tours....let the good times roll..

[AhFarangJa]

Fire starting in the middle of the bus......maybe something in the luggage hold ?

R.I.P. to the victims,.....A horrific way to go....

[overherebc]

14 hours ago, Russell17au said:

They run on diesel, but that is not what caused this fire and it is not what made the fire consume the coach so quickly.

The interior of this bus is built from exactly the same materials as those that are built in UK, USA, Europe and Australia and that is the seats are made from foam rubber, nylon, plastic, the inner sides of the bus are lined with foam insulation covered with nylon and the ceiling of the bus is the same as the inner walls. This fire did not start in the engine bay as the engine is located in the rear of the bus and witnesses have stated that the fire started in the middle of the bus.

Many people want to point the finger at Thailand about these type of incidents but they are that biased that they do not bother to look at the rest of the world. In Germany there are between 350-400 reported bus fires every year and in Finland the bus fires have nearly doubled over the last 10 years and in America it is reported that there are 6 bus fires each day and in January this year there were 52 people died in a bus fire in Kazakhstan so when you have an honest look at the bus fires Thailand is no worse than any other country. Remember that this is not an accident involving a collision with another vehicle or any other object, it is a fire

Screen shot from a shuttle bus fire in Gatwick Airport 2 days ago.

Termainal shut for a few hours but lucky no injuries.

[Just Weird]

3 hours ago, djayz said:

It's too late to scrutinize the condition of the busses AFTER accidents - these should be checked on a regular basis. 

Be PRO-active.

If bus companies can't regulate themselves, then the authorities need to step in and regulate them. 

It's standard procedure worldwide to examine the condition of vehicles involved in this type of incident after whatever happened!  It's called an investigation and you do not know that this bus had not had regular inspections, do you?

[Just Weird]

3 hours ago, hyku1147 said:

Are the big bus company's vehicles safe? Are their drivers drug tested?

Did drugs cause this bus to burst into flames?

[djayz]

47 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

It's standard procedure worldwide to examine the condition of vehicles involved in this type of incident after whatever happened!  It's called an investigation and you do not know that this bus had not had regular inspections, do you?

You're right Pat, it is common procedure to examine vehicles after crashes to ascertain the cause of the accident.

It is also mandatory in many countries worldwide to do an annual test of vehicles for safety, roadworthiness and, in some countries, exhaust emissions. This measure was introduced decades ago with the primary aim of detecting problems with vehicles BEFORE these resulted in accidents and the tragic loss of life. Owners have to either fix the problem or take the vehicle off the roads. All these measures were put in place in an effort to reduce road accidents and the loss of life. Everybody knows accidents happen, but some accidents can be avoided if all the gear and components work/are used as they are designed to. 

 

No, I don't know if the bus had had regular inspections, but given the circumstances (ie this is Thailand, the bus owner and operator are probably Thais, the driver is Thai) I'd bet my last dollar that the bus had not had regular, if any, inspections. 

 

 

 

[Just Weird]

2 minutes ago, djayz said:

You're right Pat, it is common procedure to examine vehicles after crashes to ascertain the cause of the accident.

Pat?  Who's that?