Mourners wept and monks prayed at a cremation ceremony on Tuesday in a small town in central Thailand to honor the 23 young students and teachers who tragically lost their lives in a bus fire during a school field trip.
The ceremony took place in Lan Sak town, where a large cremation site was set up near the temple that the victims attended. Several furnaces with tall chimneys were erected, adorned with floral tributes in front of them.
The bus fire occurred on October 1 in Pathum Thani, a northern suburb of Bangkok, claiming the lives of six teachers and 39 elementary and junior high school students. The fire spread rapidly, allowing only 22 individuals to escape.
Following forensic work in Bangkok to identify the badly burnt bodies, the victims' remains were returned to their hometown for funeral rites that commenced last week.
This tragic incident has sparked national outrage over safety procedures, prompting authorities to take swift legal action. The bus driver was arrested for alleged reckless driving, and the woman in whose name the bus was registered faces charges of negligence causing death.
Transport officials are under scrutiny after it was revealed that the bus had passed an inspection about four months prior to the fire. Investigations uncovered that the bus was equipped with 11 natural gas canisters despite having a permit for only six.
The bus, which was over 50 years old, had been modified to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) to save costs. Police suspect that a gas tube from one of the canisters had become loose, leading to sparks igniting the leaking gas.
More than 13,000 buses running on CNG have been ordered to undergo inspections within 60 days, and the Education Ministry has temporarily suspended school study trips.
The cremation ceremony in Uthai Thani province was held under the patronage of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, with his Privy Council head, former army chief, and prime minister Surayud Chulanont representing him.
