BANGKOK (AP) — A bus carrying young students with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday, with more than 20 of those on board feared dead, officials and rescuers said.
The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit told reporters at the scene.
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BANGKOK (AP) — A bus carrying young students with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday, with more than 20 of those on board feared dead, officials and rescuers said.
Rescuers hold a white cloth to cover the body of a victim inside a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers gather at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers work at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A rescuer inspects a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers work at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers gather at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers hold a white cloth to cover the body of a victim inside a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Videos posted on social media showed the entire bus engulfed in fire with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it stood on the side of the road. Bodies were still inside the bus hours after the fire.
The students on the bus were reported to be in elementary and junior high school.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials could not yet confirm the number of fatalities because they had not finished investigating the scene. He said the driver survived but appeared to have fled and could not yet be found.
Anutin had earlier said 25 were feared dead, but Piyalak Thinkaew, a rescuer of the Ruamkatanyu Foundation told reporters later that two more survivors had been found, reducing the number of those still missing to 23 — three teachers and 20 students.
Rescuers and officials were able to access the bus hours after the fire was put out. Piyalak said they were still unable to identify the bodies, most of which were found in the middle and back seats, leading them to assume that the fire started at the front of the bus.
Thai media reports and rescuers said the bus was heading to Nonthaburi when the fire started around noon in Pathum Thani province, a northern suburb of the capital.
A rescuer at the scene told Suriya that the fire likely started after one of the tires exploded and the vehicle scraped against a road barrier.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra offered her condolences in a post on social media platform X, saying the government would take care of medical expenses and compensate the victims’ families.
The patRangsit Hospital, which is located near the scene, said in a news conference that it admitted three young girls, one of whom suffered burns to the face, mouth and eye.
Rescuers work at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers hold a white cloth to cover the body of a victim inside a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers gather at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers work at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A rescuer inspects a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers work at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers gather at the site of a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers hold a white cloth to cover the body of a victim inside a bus that caught fire, carrying young students with their teachers, in suburban Bangkok, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament on Tuesday elected Shigeru Ishiba, head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, as the country’s new prime minister.
Ishiba was chosen as the party's leader on Friday to replace Fumio Kishida, who then stepped down earlier on Tuesday to pave the way. Ishiba stood and bowed as he was nominated in the lower house, the more powerful of the two chambers of parliament, before leaving for the Prime Minister's Office to form his Cabinet.
Ishiba will hold a news conference later Tuesday to announce his Cabinet and some of his policy priorities.
Kishida took office in 2021 but left so his party could have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals. Ishiba said he plans to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 27 so his new administration can have “the people's judgement” as soon as possible.
Ishiba appointed to his Cabinet two former defense ministers with whom he has worked closely — Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief — underscoring his emphasis on defense and security policies.
Only two of the 19 ministers are women: actor-turned-lawmaker Junko Mihara as children’s policy minister and Toshiko Abe as education minister. The government is under pressure to increase the number of women in public office. Women now account for only 10% of the lower house, placing Japan near the bottom of global gender-equality rankings.
Ishiba appointed several ministers who voted for him in the party leadership poll and retained Kishida's top confidante, Yoshimasa Hayashi, as chief Cabinet secretary. He also appointed Katsunobu Kato as finance minister. Hayashi also previously served as defense minister.
The majority of his Cabinet members, including Ishiba, are unaffiliated with factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, and none are from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s powerful group linked to damaging scandals.
Ishiba’s lack of a stable power base could also mean his government will be fragile and “could quickly collapse” even though Ishiba hopes to build party unity as it prepares for the upcoming election, the liberal-leaning Asahi newspaper said.
The move is also seen as revenge by Ishiba, who was largely pushed to the side during most of Abe’s reign.
Ishiba announced his party’s leaders Monday ahead of naming his Cabinet. Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who came in third in the party leadership race, will head the party’s election task force.
“I will squarely face the people, discuss policies sincerely to gain their understanding. My government won’t walk away from challenges and get things done,” Ishiba said before the parliamentary vote.
Opposition leaders criticized Ishiba for announcing such a plan before even becoming leader and allowing only until Oct. 9 for his policies to be examined and discussed in parliament before the national election. Opposition protests delayed the start of the parliamentary vote by about half an hour, signaling a rocky beginning for Ishiba.
Kishida had announced in August he would resign at the end of his three-year term to pave the way for a fresh leader ahead of the next national election, as corruption scandals dogged his party and government.
Earlier Tuesday, Kishida and his ministers stepped down at a Cabinet meeting. Kishida left his office after a brief send-off ceremony in which he was presented a bouquet of red roses and applauded by his staff and former Cabinet members.
“As we face a critical moment in and outside the country, I earnestly hope key policies that will pioneer Japan's future will be powerfully pursued by the new Cabinet,” Kishida said in a statement.
Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and more discussion among regional partners about the use of the U.S. nuclear deterrence. He also suggested a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States.
Ishiba outlined his views in an article to the Hudson Institute last week.
Ishiba proposes to combine existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.
He noted that an Asian version of NATO could also consider sharing control of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
He pledged to continue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases, while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate and population and resilience to natural disasters.
The LDP has had a nearly unbroken tenure governing Japan since World War II. The party members may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down Kishida’s popularity.
Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under Abe.
Follow AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stops as media members asked him to make a comment before he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stops as media members asked him to make a comment before he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stops as media members asked him to make a comment before he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Lawmakers wait for the start of the extraordinary session at parliament's lower house Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japanese outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, and Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi talk ahead of the extraordinary session of parliament's lower house Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Shigeru Ishiba, top, sits ahead of the extraordinary session of parliament's lower house Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, front, is seen off as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center left showing his back, waves towards staff members and politicians as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, smiles as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, speaks as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a Cabinet meeting at his office in Tokyo before his resignation Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, attends a Cabinet meeting at his office in Tokyo before his resignation Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
