Five passengers including two children were burned alive after double-decker bus caught fire in Thailand this morning (April 13).

The coach was travelling from Udon Thani in the northeast to the capital Bangkok when a wheel exploded and burst into flames shortly after midnight.

Flames spread to the the engine compartment then engulfed the bus in the middle of a motorway in Khon Kaen province.

Two children and three adults who were on the top floor could not escape the vehicle were incinerated following a series of explosions. Twelve other passengers suffered serious burns while 17 people including the driver and conductor were able to escape from the blaze.

Fire crews arrived and took around 30 minutes to extinguish the inferno. Police are now investigating the cause of the bus fire.

Police Colonel Prayut Khambonphitak from Khon Kaen provincial police said: ‘The rear wheels of the tour bus were broken and sparks formed. Then a fire started in the engine room at the back of the bus. It spread so fast that the whole vehicle was on fire.

‘After the fire was stopped, rescuers checked inside the wreckage. Five bodies were found dead on the second floor of the bus. Two were children.

‘We will interrogate the driver of the tour bus in order to find the cause of the fire. We are ready to pursue legal proceedings.’

The bus fire came on the first day of Thailand’s Songkran New Year holiday, with hundreds of thousands of locals moving around the country on planes, cars and buses to visit relatives.

Police said the coach was travelling to the busy Mo Chit bus terminal in Bangkok and had been expected to arrive later today. There were 34 people onboard the bus including the driver and conductor.