More than 20 people, many children, dead after school bus fire in Thailand

Video and images from the devastating bus fire show rescuers surrounding the scorched vehicle as it lay under an overpass near the country's capital, Bangkok.

More than 20 people died after a bus carrying students and faculty members on a school trip in Thailand crashed and caught fire near the country’s capital, Bangkok, on Tuesday, officials said.

Thailand’s Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said approximately 25 people are feared dead — though authorities have yet to confirm the official rate of death and injuries. Most of the victims are believed to be school-aged children.

Sixteen students and three teachers have been sent to hospital for treatment, Reuters reported.

Though the exact cause of the bus fire is still unknown, Thailand’s Transport Minister Suriyahe Juangroongruangkit said the vehicle was powered by “extremely risky” compressed natural gas.

Suriyahe told reporters at the scene of the double-decker bus crash that Thailand must implement measures to ban vehicles using this type of natural gas as fuel.

Video and images from the devastating bus crash show rescuers surrounding the scorched vehicle as it lay under an overpass. The inferno was reported around noon local time and lasted less than an hour before it was stifled.

Once the large plumes of black smoke had mostly ceased and the burned-out vehicle was deemed safe to enter, rescuers were seen carrying the wrapped bodies of victims out of the wreckage.

The bus was transporting 45 passengers at the time of the crash — six teachers and 39 elementary and junior high school students, the Associated Press reported. There have been discrepancies among local media reports about how many people were onboard the bus at the time of the incident.