Thailand: School bus catches fire outside Bangkok, over 20 feared dead | Watch video

In a tragic incident, a school bus carrying students of elementary and junior high school with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday.

According to Thai authorities, more than 20 of total 44 passengers on board are feared dead.

Thai Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit said the bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces.

"Initial reports said there are 44 on board, 38 students and six teachers. As far as we know now, three teachers and 16 students got out," Suriya said.

"For those still missing, we are not clear yet," he added.

The bus was carrying children of Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam school in the northern province of Uthai Thani.

Video footage from the scene showed the entire bus got engulfed in fire with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it stood on the road.

The actual number of fatalities could not be confirmed because the officials had not finished investigating the scene, said Thai Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

The driver survived but have fled the scene and could not yet be found, he added.

The victims have not been identified yet.

According to media reports, the bus was heading to Nonthaburi when the fire broke out around noon in Pathum Thani province, a northern suburb of Bangkok. The fire supposedly started at the front of the bus.

In a post on social media platform X, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra offered her condolences, saying the government would take care of medical expenses and compensate the victims' families.

"Some of the bodies we rescued were very, very small. They must have been very young in age," Piyalak Thinkaew, who is leading the search, told reporters at the scene.

"The kids' instinct was to escape to the back so the bodies were there," he added.