Thailand bus fire: At least 21 Myanmar migrants killed as vehicle crashes

At least 21 people were charred to death on Friday after a chartered bus carrying workers from Myanmar crashed and burned on a highway in western Thailand, near the capital Bangkok.

According to the police officials, there were 48 Myanmar workers in the bus, including the driver and his wife.

As per Bangkok Post, the accident occurred at Kilometre 60 on Highway 12, at the Taksin Maharat National Park in Tambon Mae Thor in Tak province.

The remaining 27 passengers were injured in the accident and taken to the hospital. However, their condition is yet to be ascertained.

According to reports, the bus was coming from Mae Sot province to Nava Nakorn Industrial Zone in Pathum Thani, after the workers had successfully completed the registration of their work permits by the Thai labour ministry.

According to AFP reports, the television footage showed a bus destroyed by fire which trapped many passengers inside.

"The death toll is now 20, with three people injured," Pollawat Sapsongsuk of the Tak Disaster Prevention and Mitigation centre told AFP earlier.

Kittisak Boonchan, a rescue worker in Tak province, told reporters there were 47 people on the bus.

The accident took place at 1:25 am in the northwestern province of Tak which borders Myanmar, a source of much of Thailand's huge migrant labour force.

Low status and poorly paid, migrant workers often fall victim to safety lapses and exploitation in Thailand.

The kingdom has a poor road safety record on crashes with around 24,000 people perishing on its roads each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Last week 18 people died when a bus veered of the road and smashed into a tree in the northeast of the country.

The driver of that bus later confessed to being on drugs at the time of the crash.

Initial reports had said that the engine of the bus had caught fire, which spread quickly through the vehicle.

Last week, 18 people were killed and 28 others injured when a tourist bus skidded suddenly and crashed into a tree in Nakhon Ratchasima province in north-eastern Thailand.