King to sponsor funeral for victims

A royally sponsored funeral will be held for the 20 students and three teachers killed in Tuesday’s bus fire tragedy at their school in Uthai Thani’s Lan Sak district after the bodies were identified and taken back to their home province on Wednesday.
The bodies were identified in Bangkok before they were taken to Wat Khao Praya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani.
Their Majesties the King and Queen have bestowed royally-sponsored funeral rites for the victims. The families decided it best that the rites be held at the school.
Deputy Interior Minister Sabeeda Thaised and Uthai Thani governor Teerapat Kutchamath inspected the school’s multi-purpose hall where the rites will take place over seven days. The royally-sponsored rite will take place on the last day of the funeral.
Mr Teerapat said DNA samples from family members were sent to help in the identification of the bodies at Police General Hospital (PGH) in Bangkok on Tuesday. It was reported the identification process was wrapped up and the bodies delivered back to Uthai Thani on Wednesday.
Pol Lt Gen Kornchai Klayklueng, assistant national police chief, confirmed the PGH’s Institute of Forensic Medicine received DNA samples from the families of all 23 victims and that identification was to take no more than 48 hours.
The families of those on board the bus were also interviewed by police to establish what happened leading up to the tragedy, he said.
Meanwhile, police have pressed charges against Samarn Chankut, 48, the driver of the ill-fated bus.
He told police he was petrified witnessing the inferno and fled the scene to stay at a relative’s house in Ang Thong before turning himself in to police.
He is charged with reckless driving causing danger to people or property, reckless driving causing death, careless driving causing physical or mental harm to others, and failing to provide assistance after an accident.
Mr Samarn was driving one of three buses from the school on a field trip.
Before he fled, he rushed to find a fire extinguisher in another bus which stopped behind his and attempted to put out the flames but failed because of the intense heat.
His bus was the second in a three-bus convoy. It crashed and burst into flames on the inbound lane of Vibhavadi Rangsit road, near the Zeer Rangsit shopping centre in Lam Luk Ka district, around noon.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said banning school excursions, which many people called for on social media, was not the solution.
“Field trips open up horizons for our kids. They don’t hurt the children.
“It is the vehicle that was poorly maintained or inadequately inspected that caused the accident,” the premier said.