Four Charges Filed Against Driver in Bus Fire That Killed 23

[webfact]

 

Rescuers gather at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

 

Authorities have filed four charges against the driver of a bus that caught fire on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, resulting in the deaths of 23 students and teachers. The driver, Mr. Saman, claimed he fled in panic to Ang Thong after the incident.

 

On October 2, 2024, Police Major General Chayanon Meesati, Deputy Commander of Provincial Police Region 1, along with other officials, visited the site to interrogate Mr. Saman.

 

He was transporting students on a field trip when the fire broke out. After a thorough investigation, Mr. Saman voluntarily surrendered to the police at Wichai Chai Police Station in Ang Thong last night (October 1). He was then transferred for further questioning at Khu Khot Police Station in Pathum Thani.

 

Major General Chayanon reported that Mr. Saman claimed he was the second bus in a convoy, driving at a speed of approximately 70-80 km/h. When he reached the accident site, the bus swerved as if hitting a pothole, which caused it to behave as if a tire had blown or the suspension had failed. As a result, the bus collided with a Benz sedan.

In his attempt to regain control, Mr. Saman crashed into a roadside barrier, igniting a fire. Following the incident, he attempted to retrieve a fire extinguisher from the following bus but, overwhelmed by shock, decided to flee to a relative's house in Ang Thong.

 

The initial charges against Mr. Saman include reckless driving endangering life or property, negligent driving resulting in death, negligent driving causing bodily harm, and failing to assist or report the incident leading to fatalities.

 

Major General Chayanon indicated that it is uncertain whether the suspect will be remanded to Thanyaburi Provincial Court today (October 2) due to ongoing investigations. Additionally, authorities are awaiting the results of an inspection of the bus and its gas tank to determine if further charges will be filed against the vehicle's owner, reported Thai PBS.

 

Currently, among the three injured individuals, two—a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old—are in critical condition and have been transferred to Thammasat Chalermprakiat Hospital. A 14-year-old remains hospitalized at Phet Rangsit Hospital.

 

At approximately 8:30 AM today, Khu Khot Police will set up a table at the Police Hospital's Forensic Institute to facilitate questioning the relatives of the deceased.

 

-- 2024-10-02

 

[Tropicalevo]

The whole thing is just very sad. Those poor mites.

Making the bus driver the sacrificial lamb will not add anything.

It is just a distraction to pretend that something is being done.

[watchcat]

58 minutes ago, webfact said:

When he reached the accident site, the bus swerved as if hitting a pothole,

 

I bet it was a soi dog.

[newbee2022]

2 minutes ago, watchcat said:

 

I bet it was a soi dog.

Or his mobile phone...

[retarius]

What to say? Tragic loss of life and a bag of scum driver who runs away to get a fire-extinguisher? What about evacuating the kids first. Hang the bastard. 

[2long]

Everyone is casting accusations, but let's wait to see if/when there's some roadside CCTV, which might give some better info.

Very sad for everyone involved.

[watchcat]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The driver, Mr. Saman, claimed he fled in panic to Ang Thong after the incident.

 

Worried that the flames get him?

1 hour ago, webfact said:

decided to flee to a relative's house in Ang Thong.

 

Home to mom's plase, under the bed?

[brianthainess]

18 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

The whole thing is just very sad. Those poor mites.

Making the bus driver the sacrificial lamb will not add anything.

It is just a distraction to pretend that something is being done.

I agree, looking at that fire, I don't think one extinguisher would have helped, that also brings up the question did his bus have a extinguisher, did he use that one first.

 

[johnnybangkok]

1 minute ago, brianthainess said:

I agree, looking at that fire, I don't think one extinguisher would have helped, that also brings up the question did his bus have a extinguisher, did he use that one first.

 

Irrespective of whether he could/couldn't help, once he 'decided to flee to a relative's house in Ang Thong.' a very large book is going to land on him from a very large height.

How could you run away when those poor kids are still trapped inside the bus? Beggars belief. 

[Will B Good]

 

 

I guess there is just a chance he is telling the truth........it is hard to see how this will progress through the courts if he continues to claim a tyre burst, for whatever reason, and no one can prove otherwise.

 

If he was negligent, drunk, on his phone, falling asleep, I hope he rots in hell. 

[brianthainess]

43 minutes ago, retarius said:

What to say? Tragic loss of life and a bag of scum driver who runs away to get a fire-extinguisher? What about evacuating the kids first. Hang the bastard. 

What about the teachers surely they should have evacuated the kids or did they try ?

Seems the fire took control very quickly so maybe it was impossible to save anyone.

Was there a crush for the doors ? horrible way to die. RIP to those who died.

Edited October 2 by brianthainess

[KhunLA]

Actually the driver's version sounds very believable.  If lost control and couldn't come to a rolling stop, think I'd be thinking about hitting something to slow down or stop with.

 

Unfortunately, that put the bus doors against the wall, and possible trapped the folks in side, depending how the doors actually operated.

 

Would think the following bus would have had a dash cam, hopefully.  If open road, can't see any CCTV being available, unless very lucky.

 

Just need to figure out why he lost control, and what actually ignited the fire.   Could negate 3 of the charges.

[brianthainess]

I guess we might find out more, once those that survived, may be able to shed some more light on what happened. 

[brianthainess]

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

 

Unfortunately, that put the bus doors against the wall, and possible trapped the folks in side, depending how the doors actually operated.

You are wrong Both doors are on the left and were open, the Bangkok Post Show a vid of the bus burning. They would have had to go down flights of stairs, one at the front down by the driver, and one in the middle of the bus. 

[brianthainess]

This also raises the question why do public transport buses have such flammable interiors ? 

[actonion]

53 minutes ago, watchcat said:

 

I bet it was a soi dog.

Or Drunk, Drugs,  Alcohol, Sleep,   to name just a few could have's

[redwood1]

It sounds like the driver did his best to help.....Then ran away....He only had minutes till the bus was fully inflamed.....Could anyone here have done better after the fire started?

[tomazbodner]

19 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

This also raises the question why do public transport buses have such flammable interiors ? 

Maybe gas was leaking for a long time and was already in the interior of the bus, just awaiting for the spark... When you look at the bus itself front and back it was barely damaged. So any leaky gas tanks or pipes are not terribly likely to happen during the accident, but this was just an accident waiting to happen due to shoddy maintenance and probably original work.

There were another group of students on same bus a day or 2 earlier, who complained of faul smell inside the bus. I guess they were lucky ones.

[brianthainess]

4 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Maybe gas was leaking for a long time and was already in the interior of the bus, just awaiting for the spark... When you look at the bus itself front and back it was barely damaged. So any leaky gas tanks or pipes are not terribly likely to happen during the accident, but this was just an accident waiting to happen due to shoddy maintenance and probably original work.

There were another group of students on same bus a day or 2 earlier, who complained of faul smell inside the bus. I guess they were lucky ones.

I doubt it ran on Gas, I would say Diesel. 

Oh hold all This the bus was 54 years old !!!!!!!!!, and had recently had a Benz engine fitted. Now who was the one who fitted the engine ? 54 years old JFC

[anchadian]

The NGV gas tank of the deadly bus and its system, which caught fire and killed 23 people on Tuesday, is 15 years old, a record show. Meanwhile, the emergency door, which failed to open, was last inspected this year on May 23.

 

https://x.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1841312003442589740

(1/2) The bus that caught fire & killed 23 on Tues was registered with the license plate dating back to 1970, records showed. Though it has since been modified to run on NGV gas, & look relatively new, a record also shows it didn't notify the authorities

 

The modifications to have the bus run on NGV gas were noted with the insurance company, however.

 

https://x.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1841293878634402128

 

Edited October 2 by anchadian

[Dmaxdan]

1 hour ago, 2long said:

Everyone is casting accusations, but let's wait to see if/when there's some roadside CCTV, which might give some better info.

Very sad for everyone involved.

He fled the scene in an act of pure cowardice. What more evidence do you need???

The fact that he ran away from such a horrific accident should be enough to jail him for at least 10 years.

In the real world, part of being a coach or bus driver is the responsibility and safety of your passengers. This being Thailand all they care about is getting paid at the end of the month. 

 

[Antti]

The doors were probably pneumatic operated. There would (or should) be an emergency valve, usually a red plastic handle/knob that needs to rotated, which can be used to open the door. It could be difficult for even an adult to operate in a panic if he/she doesn’t have previous experience. In the video where the bus burns, the doors seem to be open but that could be because the fire eventually burned through the pneumatic system operating the doors.

Edited October 2 by Antti

[brianthainess]

37 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

It sounds like the driver did his best to help.....Then ran away....He only had minutes till the bus was fully inflamed.....Could anyone here have done better after the fire started?

Agree.......

[redwood1]

11 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

He fled the scene in an act of pure cowardice. What more evidence do you need???

The fact that he ran away from such a horrific accident should be enough to jail him for at least 10 years.

In the real world, part of being a coach or bus driver is the responsibility and safety of your passengers. This being Thailand all they care about is getting paid at the end of the month. 

 

 

If the doors had opened very few or nobody would have died....

 

So making sure all buses have exit doors that can ALWAYS be opened should be the first step...

Edited October 2 by redwood1

[scott1999]

The very first job of any driver is to check the emergency doors before the customers enter the vehicle. Having held  PSV license which was replaced by the Operator’s License (O-Licence) Which then became the PCV. 

As I said on my Facebook post

(Just to add to this video as a driver I would rather have died in the fire trying to save the children there is just no chance that I could have left anyone on that bus, impossible)

 

Any driver worth their salts would never leave the children on the bus they would get them off first, before trying to put the fire out. 

The things that surprised me the most about these buses and coaches are the paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling flammable flags plastic fans other ridiculous mementoes it make the Vehicle a tinderbox. 

 

Here's an idea instead of spending 300,000 on a respray with cartoon characters on the outside buy some new tires get some flame resistant seats train your drivers what to do in an emergency and have a government agency come on a regular basis to check the vehicles.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 2 by scott1999

[lordgrinz]

Just now, scott1999 said:

The very first job of any driver is to check the emergency doors before the customers enter the vehicle. Having held  PSV license which was replaced by the Operator’s License (O-Licence) Which then became the PCV. 

As I said on my Facebook post any driver worth their salts would never leave the children on the bus they would get them off first, before trying to put the fire out. 

The things that surprised me the most about these buses and coaches are the paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling flammable flags plastic fans other ridiculous mementoes it make the Vehicle a tinderbox. 

 

Here's an idea instead of spending 300,000 on a respray with cartoon characters on the outside buy some new tires get some flame resistant seats train your drivers what to do in an emergency and have a government agency come on a regular basis to check the vehicles.

 

This is Thailand, they don't care about safety, they don't care about kids, they don't care to use logic or commonsense, avarice is their only ambition.

[scott1999]

You are right of course when I first came to Thailand I would say stupid things like it's not like this in England well this Isn't England. Thank you for reminding me.

[LespaulAN]

As a new expat, I feel that the people in this country don't care about safety in every aspect of their lives is partly responsible for such tragedy. This country has a culture of taking the easy way out, the lazy way mai pen rai. don't care about safety at all. This culture need to change if they want to do better. 

[Confuscious]

Amazing how everybody is pointing at the driver, yet nobody is pointing at the REAL CULPRIT.
The bus owner and the Minister of Transport who allows an old dodgy bus to be DANGEROUSLY modified and be on the roads.
Also, the modified bus was not carrying the necessary SAFETY DEVICES (window smashers on each row, emergency door openers, NGV compartiment shielded from passengers department, etc.).
This whole accident will be forgotten in a few weeks, just like the amount of passengers in a pick-up, nobody will face arrests, and Thailand will continue to be a country with the highest death toll on the roads.
Shame on you THAILAND.

[FruitPudding]

1 hour ago, Dmaxdan said:

He fled the scene in an act of pure cowardice. What more evidence do you need???

The fact that he ran away from such a horrific accident should be enough to jail him for at least 10 years.

In the real world, part of being a coach or bus driver is the responsibility and safety of your passengers. This being Thailand all they care about is getting paid at the end of the month. 

 

 

What could he have done besides call the fire brigade and ambulance?