On Wednesday morning, as their tour bus left the Thai capital of Bangkok for Ayutthaya, 15 tourists and their Thai guide narrowly escaped death.
After collecting up a Polish tour group at the Bangkok Palace Hotel at around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, bus driver Kuanchit claimed to have seen smoke coming from the luggage compartment.
The bus had entered an elevated area of the Si Rat Expressway in the Chatuchak district when it caught fire. The quick-thinking driver pulled over in the leftmost lane, instantly stopped the car, and took all the passengers to safety.
When firefighters arrived on the site, the bus was burning on the highway over Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal, Bangkok’s primary rail hub.
As emergency officials dealt with the event, there were significant delays on the road. The bus was destroyed by the fire, which took firefighters about 20 minutes to put out. In the blaze, the passengers also misplaced their belongings.At 9.38am, authorities haul away the burned-out wreck, and the flow of traffic swiftly returns to normal.
The incident was captured on video by Thai actress Benz Pornchita Na Songkhla, who commented that the expressway fire was terrifying. Hopefully no one had been hurt in the incident, she thought.
