More than 20 children were killed in a bus accident in Thailand

The bodies of 20 children and three teachers have been recovered after a bus carrying schoolchildren crashed and caught fire outside Bangkok.

The bus was returning to the Thai capital after a school trip to the north of the country.

Video clips from the scene showed flames engulfing the bus as it burned under an overpass, with huge clouds of thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

Local media reported that the driver surrendered himself to police 100 kilometers north of Bangkok.

Footage taken shortly after the fatal accident showed the driver trying to extinguish the fire, but he fled the scene.

Witnesses said that the bus collided with the concrete barrier dividing the highway north of Bangkok after its front tire exploded.

The bus was quickly consumed by fire, and many of those on board were unable to get out. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Nineteen children and three teachers were reported to have survived, sixteen of whom were being treated in hospital for their injuries.

Transport Minister Suriah Juangroongruangkit said the bus was running on “extremely dangerous” compressed natural gas.

“This is a very tragic accident,” Suriah told reporters at the scene.

“The ministry must find a measure… if possible, to prevent passenger cars like this from using this type of fuel because it is very dangerous.”

Bialak Thenkaw, who was leading the search, said it was difficult to identify the bodies because they were badly burned.

“Some of the bodies we found were very, very small,” he told reporters at the scene, adding that the fire broke out in the front of the bus.

He added: “The children’s instinct was to run back until the bodies were there.”

Forensic police said that of the 23 bodies found, 11 were male, seven female, and five others whose identities were not known.

The ages of the children on board are still unclear, but the school caters to pupils between the ages of 3 and 15.

Thailand has One of the worst road safety records in the worldUnsafe vehicles and poor driving contribute to the deaths of nearly 20,000 people annually.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the investigation was ongoing. He said: “We have to check the driving trace from tire marks, burn marks, and surveillance camera footage.”