Coach carrying Taiwan tourists engulfed in flames on expressway

[rooster59]

Coach carrying Taiwan tourists engulfed in flames on expressway

By The Nation

 

Image: JS100 Radio

 

A coach with about 30 Taiwanese tourists caught fire on a Bangkok expressway, sending them running for their lives on Saturday afternoon.

 

The fire broke out at about 1pm after the air-conditioned bus was about 200 metres beyond the Sukhumvit 62 expressway gate.

The entire bus was engulfed by the flames, shocking tourists who lost their bags in the bus compartment.

 

With a section of the expressway gate closed so firefighters and fire engines could battle the blaze, vehicles piled up for the over two kilometres to the Bang Na gate. The traffic travelling in the other direction was also slowed, causing congestion to the Tha Rua exit.

The bus driver, Pirapong Romphakdee, 43, said he had picked up the Taiwanese tourists from the NY Hotel in Samut Prakan’s Bang Saothong district to take them to shop at the Chatuchak weekend market.

 

After he has passed the Sukhumvit 62 gate by about 200 metres, the tourists yelled that they smelled fire, so he stopped and checked and found that a fire had started in the bag compartment.

 

Pirapong told the tour guide to tell the tourists to flee and the fire quickly engulfed the bus. Several tourists wept to see their belongings go up in flames, the bus driver recounted.

 

He said the tour company sent another bus to pick up the tourists.

 

Police have yet to determine the cause of the fire.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30345815

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-05-19

[tallfarang]

Drove past it today, sad to see the people from the bus on the side of the road. Seems to be a lot of bus fires lately.

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[Thian]

1 hour ago, tallfarang said:

Seems to be a lot of bus fires lately.

 

Yup, almost one each and every day....disgusting..and still no serious crackdown where the buses get inspected by real safety-engineers.

 

But why didn't they use the skytrain? Going to shop in chatuchak market by coach?

[fanjita]

1 hour ago, Thian said:

Yup, almost one each and every day....disgusting..and still no serious crackdown where the buses get inspected by real safety-engineers.

 

But why didn't they use the skytrain? Going to shop in chatuchak market by coach?

Avoid coaches as well.  The visitors hardly understand.

[Thian]

34 minutes ago, fanjita said:

Avoid coaches as well.  The visitors hardly understand.

A country with accidents like this happening almost daily should become a hub....the hub of plane-maintenance for whole Asia!

[Andrew65]

Are these buses/vehicles running on CNG rather then diesel or even gasoline?!

 

I suspect that dodgy conversions might play a role in some of the many horrific mini-bus fires/deaths.

[Darcula]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

a fire had started in the bag compartment

 

Most likely some passengers power bank. Better on the bus than on the plane back to Taiwan.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

6 hours ago, tallfarang said:

Drove past it today, sad to see the people from the bus on the side of the road. Seems to be a lot of bus fires lately.

7488E497-7430-4424-9E9B-24CBB1DA9FE8.MOV

 

Wow.

 

Safety first

[overherebc]

2 hours ago, Darcula said:

 

Most likely some passengers power bank. Better on the bus than on the plane back to Taiwan.

My first thought.

[Krataiboy]

No fire extinguishers on board?

[Katia]

8 hours ago, Darcula said:

 

Most likely some passengers power bank. Better on the bus than on the plane back to Taiwan.

That was my thought, too-- something dodgy in someone's luggage.

 

 

1 hour ago, Krataiboy said:

No fire extinguishers on board?

Doesn't everyone always say buses burn really quickly?  By the time they smelled something, enough people confirmed it ("Do you smell that?"  "Yeah..." "Smells like smoke?"  "Kinda, actually, hey, do YOU smell that?"  "Yeah, I think it IS smoke..."), notified the driver, stopped, everyone piled off, and they checked out the baggage compartment, my guess is that the fire was going at a good enough clip that one or two fire extinguishers weren't going to help much.

[pieeyed]

Prawit should have to give back a few watches. Chinese buses seem  to be burning up every week

[Henrik Andersen]

12 hours ago, Darcula said:

 

Most likely some passengers power bank. Better on the bus than on the plane back to Taiwan.

Spot on 

But sorry guys this not happen every day 

Good every people get out 

Please continue to complain about everything in Thailand guys 

[Henrik Andersen]

56 minutes ago, pieeyed said:

Prawit should have to give back a few watches. Chinese buses seem  to be burning up every week

Stupid comment 

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, Henrik Andersen said:

Stupid comment 

I think not - probably a frustrated comment. The kingdom is hardly a paragon of safety, of any sort.

[lvr181]

6 hours ago, Katia said:

Doesn't everyone always say buses burn really quickly? 

They do burn quickly because of the way they are built.

[jacko45k]

On 5/20/2018 at 5:01 AM, Andrew65 said:

Are these buses/vehicles running on CNG rather then diesel or even gasoline?!

 

I suspect that dodgy conversions might play a role in some of the many horrific mini-bus fires/deaths.

Well it is claimed the fire started in the baggage compartment, in this instance, and could be a simple as a mobile power pack. I agree there are some horror stories when CNG, LPG vehicles are involved in accidents.

[Happyman58]

19 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

No fire extinguishers on board?

Maybe you should explain to the Thais what a fire extinguisher is and what it used for?

[VocalNeal]

They do try here but a bus is a bit large for these guys?