Police in Thailand arrest driver of school bus fire that killed 23 people [Video]

THAI POLICE HAVE arrested the driver of a bus carrying young students and teachers that caught fire and killed 23 in suburban Bangkok, as families arrived in the capital to help identify their loved ones.

The bus carrying six teachers and 39 students in elementary and junior high school was travelling from Uthai Thani province, about 300 kilometres north of Bangkok, for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces yesterday.

The fire started while the bus was on a highway north of the capital and spread so quickly many were unable to escape.

Trairong Phiwpan, head of the police forensic department, said 23 bodies were recovered from the bus.

Firefighters spray water on a burnt bus that was carrying students and teachers Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The recovery work and confirmation of the total dead had been delayed earlier because the burned vehicle, which was fuelled with natural gas, remained too hot to …