Two bus owners and a driver were handed suspended jail terms over a horror fire that killed 23 teachers and students in Thailand.

Songwit and Panisara Chinnaboot, and driver Samarn Chankut were each sentenced to four years each in prison and fines of 200,000 baht (4,650 GBP) for the tragic crash in Pathum Thani province last year.

The Thanyaburi Provincial Court handed down the ruling on September 9, nearly a year after the tragedy but the penalties were cut in half after the defendants entered guilty pleas.

Songwit and Panisara each received four years in prison and a 100,000-baht fine, while Samarn was handed four years and one month and a 102,500-baht fine. Their sentences were suspended for five years with probation.

The bus was taking 38 pupils and six teachers on a field trip, but smashed into a roadside barrier near Bangkok on October 1, 2024. A tyre exploded, igniting natural gas cylinders in the vehicle and engulfing it in flames.

The inferno rapidly tore through the double-decker, killing 23 people inside as Samarn fled the scene. He turned himself in to police later that evening.

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.

(1 GBP = 43.01 THB)