“Suriya”, Minister of Transport, ordered the establishment of a committee to investigate the cause of the bus fire. It must be clear within 2 weeks. He believes that the insurance company will not default on paying compensation.
Mr. Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, chaired a meeting of the Prime Minister’s Office Disaster Relief Fund Committee to provide assistance to families affected by the fire incident involving a school bus carrying teachers and students from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani Province.
Mr. Suriya revealed before the meeting that the Ministry of Transport has set up a committee to investigate the cause of the fire on the sightseeing bus, what caused it and how it can be prevented. The Engineering Institute of Thailand will be invited to inspect the structure of the bus to see how many passengers it can hold, what improvements should be made, including emergency exits, as well as inspecting the condition of the vehicle and fuel t
o cover all types of buses. It is expected that there will be clear guidelines within 2 weeks.
Mr. Suriya added that there is currently an idea to introduce an evacuation model similar to the service on an airplane. The flight attendants must explain the emergency route and how to proceed in an emergency. The Ministry of Transport will issue measures to enforce buses that must explain to passengers in an emergency situation and reduce the severity. In addition, there will be urgent measures and long-term measures to prevent a repeat of the incident.
‘The bus that caused the accident yesterday was not a double-decker bus, but a single-decker bus. The ministry will have measures to control double-decker buses. It is considering allowing double-decker buses to run only in the city. They are not allowed to run outside the province.’
As for measures to control modified vehicles, how will the regulations be set or amended? Because some people take advantage of loopholes to modify vehicles until they lose their c
apability, Mr. Suriya said that this matter will be assigned to the Department of Land Transport to take care of.
When asked whether the modification of the vehicle could cause the insurance company to play tricks and not pay compensation, Mr. Suriya explained that he had received a report from the Department of Land Transport that the law requires the insurance company to pay a minimum of 500,000 baht per person, and there is voluntary insurance for the insurance company to pay another 500,000 baht, totaling 1 million baht per person, which must cover compensation of approximately 20 million baht per accident. This accident resulted in a total of 23 deaths. However, the insurance company would not find a reason to not pay compensation because the incident was shocking.
Source: Thai News Agency