A bus carrying 45 Indian students crashed into a power pole leaving at least 12 people injured in Thailand.

The coach was taking the exchange students to the Asian Institute of Technology when it veered off the road in Bangkok on June 2.

Police received a report at 11 am and rushed to the scene, where they found the vehicle with its front end severely damaged and smoke wafting from the engine. Firefighters also doused the bus to prevent a fire from erupting.

Rescue teams extracted a trapped female tour guide was extracted from the carnage while the youngsters escaped from the bus through emergency doors and windows.

A police spokesman said: 'Rescue officers used a cutting machine to free the injured person from the vehicle, which was emitting smoke. To prevent a fire, Bangkok Disaster Relief personnel sprayed water.

'There were also 11 other injured students from India. They were already taken to the hospital by rescue teams.'

Thai bus driver Nikom, 48, said he had picked up the students from the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. He claimed the brakes malfunctioned as he was approaching a traffic light at an intersection.

He said: 'I decided to steer the bus off the road. Otherwise, I would have hit many cars in front of me at the intersection.'

Nikom was detained at the Don Mueang Police Station for further questioning.

In October 2024, a tragic bus fire in Pathum Thani, Thailand, claimed the lives of 20 students and three teachers during a school field trip. Investigations revealed that a gas leak at the front of the bus was the cause of the fire.

Following the horror inferno, the Ministry of Transport ordered safety inspections for some 13,000 natural gas-powered buses in the country.

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.