School Bus Fire Claims Multiple Lives and Injures Young Students in Rangsit

[James9999]

2 hours ago, anchadian said:

 

This caused the Mercedes to hit the center barrier and scrape along it for abt 100 meters. The Mercedes driver quickly braked. The driver quickly exited the vehicle. Meanwhile, the bus continued for about 400-500 meters before catching fire.

 

 

 

 

The Mercedes car managed to stop in 100 metres but the bus careeded on for another half a kilometre. How fast as the bus going for God's sake.

[AustinRacing]

Prevention and risk management are seen as costly. Add to this, lazy/ignorant attitude of “It won’t happen to me” plus lack of enforcement of safety rules have resulted in numerous preventable casualties in this land. Driving vehicles until they break down is their modus operandi. As usual, running away rather than helping in accidents is another of their qualities. 
horrible, just horrible incident. What can you say to the families to ease the pain. 

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, connda said:

How much do you want to bet that there was no fire extinguisher onboard?  TIT.

 

True... But other than being used to 'smash the windows' (as the main door would not open) I don't think it would have made much difference.

 

If I'm not mistaken - the bus had a blowout (front left) then took a while to stop... I suspect the LGV tanks were somehow damaged while the bus scraped either the floor, or the barrier.

 

(this is a discussion forum to exchange ideas and thoughts - and obviously the comment above is just my my guess of what may have happened based on the videos and numerous inputs on Thai social media etc...

...  Kwilco will come along soon and tell me how I'm wrong and he knows more than everyone else)

 

 

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, James9999 said:

The Mercedes car managed to stop in 100 metres but the bus careeded on for another half a kilometre. How fast as the bus going for God's sake.

 

Brake failure....     

[josephbloggs]

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Yep...   that happens with my kids too...   I had concerns that this meant they 'blasted through' everywhere... but one of the parents (neurotic) also followed and reported back to the 'mums' that the drivers were safe.

 

On my Son's first field trip (he was 3 or 4) I questioned the use of child safety seats in the busses - and received a very disappointing response (International School).

 

 

Our kids' school only uses Montri buses for excursions and everyone wears seatbelts. I have never ever seen a Montri bus being driven badly on the roads, so I feel comfortable with that. Seat belts in their fleet since 1991, alcohol detection machines for drivers since 1999. You can never be totally safe but in Thailand I think this is by far the most reputable company.

[Georgealbert]

 

This is CCTV footage from around 12:06, on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road (inbound) captured the moment of the incident. The footage shows the three buses traveling in the middle lane, one following the other. If you look closely, just before a curve in the road, a black Mercedes-Benz can be seen in the right-hand lane next to the second bus.

 

As the second bus approached the curve, it entered alongside the black Mercedes-Benz. Later, smoke appears to begin to billow from the area.

 

I have zoomed the video, to highlight the incident area, but that has reduced the quality of the image.

 

 

[tandor]

3 hours ago, Stuart dunsmore said:

100% correct. With tears in my eyes how can this happen? Does it take such a tragic incident like this for the Thai government to wake up? Sadly this will not change the way things are here. If what I see in the picture are gas canisters, then surly someone has to be answerable. 
So so sad, WAKE THE <deleted> UP THAILAND. 

more than likely a left front wheel bearing that seized bringing the bus to a grinding halt with the heat intense enough to cause convection heat to ignite the buses interior..check out the CCTV of the bus passing the camera behind another bus from perhaps the same company..watch the smoke emanating as it came to a stop.  RIP

[josephbloggs]

11 minutes ago, James9999 said:

The Mercedes car managed to stop in 100 metres but the bus careeded on for another half a kilometre. How fast as the bus going for God's sake.

If yu look at the CCTV footage posted by Gerogalbert the buses don't appear to be speeding and they have a safe distance between them. It definitely doesn't look like dangerous driving was the main cause.

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Georgealbert said:

This video sadly shows the intensity the fire reached before the first emergency responders could reach the bus.

 

The fire seems to have spread rapidly and the investigation will need to determine if this was partially or fully caused by any damage to the NGV system after the collision with the Benz and concrete barrier.

 

I also wonder if all the children were wearing seat belts and with the ratio of children to adults if this slowed any possible evacuation. Consideration also has to be given to where the bus ended up, in the outside lane, with teachers possibly concerned at first with the dangers of traffic, before becoming aware of the fire.

 

Looking at the pictures and videos, many of which are too horrific, it appears that some of the bodies are located in the seating areas, with also a build up of approximately 10 children at the rear emergency exit..

 

This evening after the bodies had been cleared from the bus, authorities were attempting to tow the bus from the scene, when a small secondary fire ignited. This was quickly extinguished by responders who were there standing-by, but is being reported that leaking gas caused this new fire.

 

A truly tragic incident, but the forensic investigation should be able to establish the cause of the fire and you can only hope that something is done to try to prevent this type of incident occurring again.

 

(This is my personal post, not part of the AN news team reporting)

 

 

 

This is a video (posted on x) of the early stages of the incident.

 

The bus-driver (photo below - blue stripes) - did not run away after all... though he escaped the vehicle and had time to run and get a fire extinguisher from 'somewhere'...

 

Though - what I don't understand is if he could get out and get across the road, why could the kids not also get out.... 

 

The 'front door of the bus could open - but the back door of the bus would not open - he tried to et something, but could not open the door'.... 

 

Could the fire extinguisher - that we see the driver carrying back not have been used to smash the windows (I know - 20/20 hindsight).

 

Someone was videoing this on their phone, instead of doing something...  They could have pulled their car next to the bus, stood on the roof...  smashed the windows etc... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tandor]

6 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

What a horrible accident, that must be possible to prevent. Deepest condolences to the ones who lost their children, and hoping for all injured to have a speedy recovery.

 

I am sorry to say, but the many bus fires seems to only happen in certain countries. For example, India in topping the chart, while Thailand and South Africa are having many as well. That´s why I post it must be possible to prevent. Either they use bad and unsafe quality or they do not make regular maintenance. The question is how long time it will be accepted, that companies use crap quality or disregard maintenance  that as a result claim lives of the ones we love and should protect?

you have no idea what you're talking about..just look where the seat of the fire is and the convection heat happening..big words and forensic phraseology i know, but stop insinuating certain countries are worse than others..this can happen anywhere at any time..IMO the cause is not engine failure or a gas leak but the seizing up of the front left wheel bearing causing the bus to come to a grinding halt, smoke billowing then fire erupting..have a closer look at the CCTV footage. Totally unpreventable!!!! what!..these vehicle fires happen every day of the week with cars, trains, truck and buses. You should learn to button your lip until you are at least qualified to spread such irrelevant opinions. RIP to those poor children and adults involved.

[richard_smith237]

9 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Our kids' school only uses Montri buses for excursions and everyone wears seatbelts. I have never ever seen a Montri bus being driven badly on the roads, so I feel comfortable with that. Seat belts in their fleet since 1991, alcohol detection machines for drivers since 1999. You can never be totally safe but in Thailand I think this is by far the most reputable company.

 

Montri is the very 'service' in question.

 

I wrote to the school who passed on my e-mail directly too them...  asking their various policies... 

The school probably thought I was over-doing it from a safety perspective, but I really didn't care... 

 

 

 A few standouts...

 

- Child seats: Its the Childs responsibility not the companies (poor response, but the meant its the parents responsibility to provide child seats which we did and the teacher agreed to ensure the kids were in their seats properly).

 

- Seat belts are 3 point

 

- Busses and vans are diesel only

 

- Drunk driving (this response was so very typically Thai)...  paraphrasing: "we test our drivers for drink each morning, if they are drunk they are suspended for the day"...   

(I was left astonished)... 

 

I'm sure I can dig out the e-mail response from them somewhere if you want me to PM it to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JeffersLos]

You can only hope that the smoke got them before the flames did. 

[NorthernRyland]

44 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

One thing for sure - Driver doing a running - he needs to be burned a stake.

 

Was he even at fault though? It sounds like he may have done the typical thing you see here where people just push their way in to a lane, especially if they're larger. If he's responsible for that then basically so is everyone else. 

[Georgealbert]

UPDATE

The school bus driver has surrendered after fleeing the scene,  police later took him away from Wichian Chaichan Police Station.

 

During the evening of October 1, Mr. Saman, aged 48, the driver, has turned himself in at Wichian Chai Police Station. The police investigation team of Wichian Chai Police Station detained him in the superintendent’s room, closed the curtains and refused to let reporters in. He was then taken out through the back door of the station and immediately got into a black Fortuner and left the station without giving any information to reporters.

 

-- 2024-10-01

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

4 hours ago, ronster said:

Seems to have been engulfed in flames very quickly. Surely a mercedes bus would be designed with fire retardant seats , the video of this looks like the whole thing was quickly ablaze.

Never seen a country with so many bus accidents every month . I refuse to let my wife travel on them .

 

The Mercedes emblem denotes engine and transmission I think,possibly the chassis also. The bodywork, seats and upholstery are all local produced.. They are flimsy. That said. the report mentions gas cylinders so probably LPG fuelled.

Heartbreaking.

[Gottfrid]

45 minutes ago, tandor said:

but stop insinuating certain countries are worse than others..this can happen anywhere at any time..

I suggest you Google bus fires before you open your mouth again. I did, so I know it´s much more frequent in India, South Africa and Thailand as some examples among about 5-6 countries in total.

[samtam]

From an international paper in the region:

 

Quote

 

Thailand has one of the worst road safety records in the world, with unsafe vehicles and poor driving contributing to the high annual death toll.

Around 20,000 people are killed every year on the kingdom’s roads, according to the

 

Quote

 

World Health Organization – more than 50 a day on average.

The economic losses caused by traffic deaths and injuries amounted to around

 

Quote

US$15.5 billion in 2022 – more than three per cent of GDP – the WHO says.

 

Well the last sentence might "prick up their ears".

[kwilco]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

You call it bigotry and racism...  we call it observation.

Classic racist response.

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, kwilco said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

You call it bigotry and racism...  we call it observation.

Classic racist response.

 

Nope... its just a classic observation... you know, look out of your window, see something, start to recognise a pattern.... 

 

After seeing so many bald tyres on vehicles here thats definitely a pattern - but fill your boots with the racism accusation if you think that scores you a win.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

44 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

One thing for sure - Driver doing a running - he needs to be burned a stake.

 

Was he even at fault though? It sounds like he may have done the typical thing you see here where people just push their way in to a lane, especially if they're larger. If he's responsible for that then basically so is everyone else. 

 

I think the blow out 'excuse' was genuine - there is a Thai media report whereby one of the teachers in the following bus observed the blowout and watched the bus swerving (inadvertently hitting another vehicle)...  

 

Then I think the driver saw flames, got out and tried to get help - attempting to open the rear-door of the bus (mid way down the bus on the left side I think)... 

 

Possibly NGV tanks exploded engulfing the inside of the bus....   horrific.

[kwilco]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Nope... its just a classic observation... you know, look out of your window, see something, start to recognise a pattern.... 

 

After seeing so many bald tyres on vehicles here thats definitely a pattern - but fill your boots with the racism accusation if you think that scores you a win.

 

 

Only fool doesn't understand the limitations of anecdotal and personal observations and is unable to interpret what they see - rather than reasoned analysis, you just let your own bigotry and racism rule your brain.

[lordgrinz]

1 hour ago, FruitPudding said:

 

Horrific.

 

 

I understand how you feel. Its so dangerous here 

 

My kid's school gets a police escort on trips to avoid accidents, so that makes me feel better.

 

 

So do mine, but I got into a heated argument with my daughters teacher, who believes the children don't need to wear seatbelts. In fact, the last trip was by minibus, where the driver had zip-tied the seatbelts out of the way, and my daughter confronted him on it, the teacher said it was "OK, not needed". My daughter was scared to confront the teacher after the teacher didn't stand up for her, and knew my rule that she isn't allowed to go in any vehicle unless she wears one, the teacher kept her on the minibus. I went down one side of the teacher and down the other, I wanted her fired! I told my daughter under no circumstances will she be allowed to ride in any vehicle at school without a seatbelt being used, if they don't have them, or are deliberately sabotaged, she is to get off the bus. I will gladly come pick her up, but there is no way she is not wearing one. My anger over the lack of safety in this country is my major issue with Thailand, and I am sick of the people who allow it to happen, and with blatant ignorance, continue to defend it. 

[lordgrinz]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I think the blow out 'excuse' was genuine - there is a Thai media report whereby one of the teachers in the following bus observed the blowout and watched the bus swerving (inadvertently hitting another vehicle)...  

 

Then I think the driver saw flames, got out and tried to get help - attempting to open the rear-door of the bus (mid way down the bus on the left side I think)... 

 

Possibly NGV tanks exploded engulfing the inside of the bus....   horrific.

 

Just out curiosity, is there no type of fire suppression systems for these tanks? Also, is the issue that this is a conversion, and knowing Thailand, done in an unsafe and dangerous way just to save money?

[FruitPudding]

4 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

 

So do mine, but I got into a heated argument with my daughters teacher, who believes the children don't need to wear seatbelts. In fact, the last trip was by minibus, where the driver had zip-tied the seatbelts out of the way, and my daughter confronted him on it, the teacher said it was "OK, not needed". My daughter was scared to confront the teacher after the teacher didn't stand up for her, and knew my rule that she isn't allowed to go in any vehicle unless she wears one, the teacher kept her on the minibus. I went down one side of the teacher and down the other, I wanted her fired! I told my daughter under no circumstances will she be allowed to ride in any vehicle at school without a seatbelt being used, if they don't have them, or are deliberately sabotaged, she is to get off the bus. I will gladly come pick her up, but there is no way she is not wearing one. My anger over the lack of safety in this country is my major issue with Thailand, and I am sick of the people who allow it to happen, and with blatantly ignorance, continue to defend it. 

 

Gotta love Thailand. 

 

It's really just a place for fun.

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

This is genuinely sickening if it is true. How absolutely shameful.

 Gross and totally inappropriate, they should be with their parents.

[newbee2022]

8 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

 

 

In a tragic incident, a fire broke out on a school bus on Vibhavadi Road, near Zeer Rangsit in Pathum Thani Province, resulting in the deaths and injuries of many kindergarten students. Emergency services raced to provide aid.

 

At 12:25 on October 1, 2024, reports confirmed that a fire engulfed a bus carrying students from Wat Khao Phraya School in Uthai Thani Province. The accident occurred on Vibhavadi Road in the Khu Khot subdistrict, Lam Luk Ka district, Pathum Thani.

 

 

 

Volunteer rescue teams from Hongsa Khong Luang 21 were immediately dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, they found the bus completely engulfed in flames. Firefighters worked urgently to extinguish the blaze, and initial reports confirm multiple casualties, including up to 10 fatalities and many injured students.

 

Both the express and local lanes of inbound Vibhavadi Rangsit Road have been closed indefinitely to facilitate rescue efforts and transport the injured to nearby hospitals for urgent treatment.

 

According to early reports, there were 42 individuals aboard the bus, including kindergarten students and teachers. So far, 19 individuals have been confirmed to have escaped unharmed.

Emergency personnel have not yet been able to fully assess the damage inside the bus.  
 

Pictures and video from responders
 

 

-- 2024-10-01

 

 

 

 

An avoidable tragedy.

RIP

[richard_smith237]

18 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Only fool doesn't understand the limitations of anecdotal and personal observations and is unable to interpret what they see - rather than reasoned analysis, you just let your own bigotry and racism rule your brain.

 

Only a fool is incapable of looking around and making clear and factual observations. 

 

Only an idiot thinks those observations hold no validity whatsoever in establishing patterns, even if anecdotal. 

 

And... only a ridiculous apologist thinks any of this equates to racism or bigotry...   

 

You, Kwilco, try so extremely hard to shoe horn accusations of bigotry and racism into these discussions because you are unable to explain the patterns any other way - the observations of these patterns are not racism, they are not bigotry - they are simply identification of a systemic weakness and those weaknesses exist in many countries.

 

These weaknesses exist in countries with white people too... they exist in the UK. different issues to a difference extent - yet patterns and weaknesses can also be identified through observation - and that is why you are wrong when you attempt to kneecap commonsense discussion with flawed accusations of racism and bigotry - in this example, trying to drop the 'woke bomb' fails when the issue is human nature. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

17 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

Just out curiosity, is there no type of fire suppression systems for these tanks? Also, is the issue that this is a conversion, and knowing Thailand, done in an unsafe and dangerous way just to save money?

 

 I think thats a common issue here - poorly carried out conversions...   though there are so many LPG conversions carried out here the engineering skill set is clearly present and experienced, otherwise we'd see far more issues - I think the issue is certification. 

 

The issue is also that all such vehicles 'should' be diesel. 

 

Regarding fire suppression - I don't think thats a requirement in any nation, but using non-flammable materials certainly is. 

 

That said - I'm not sure the materials of the fittings / upholstery made any difference IF this was an LPG explosion.

[josephbloggs]

4 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 I think thats a common issue here - poorly carried out conversions...   though there are so many LPG conversions carried out here the engineering skill set is clearly present and experienced, otherwise we'd see far more issues - I think the issue is certification. 

 

The issue is also that all such vehicles 'should' be diesel. 

Not to bring politics in to this, but it was Thaksin's government who brought in policies to get buses and HGVs to convert from diesel to LPG or NGV. I am sure with good intentions to reduce diesel imports and pollution, but we are still seeing the results of these policies today.

I don't think certification or safety standards were brought in to go with the policy.

[NorthernRyland]

29 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

So do mine, but I got into a heated argument with my daughters teacher, who believes the children don't need to wear seatbelts.

I'd like to hear their reasoning. I've heard people make the case that seats belts cause accidents but I've never heard a Thai person challenge conventional knowledge with really elaborate studies into a matter.