This is the dramatic moment a double-decker bus burst into flames when its lithium-ion battery reportedly exploded in Thailand.

The vehicle was heading back to Bangkok when its onboard power supply was said to have caught fire, sending thick smoke into the cabin, in the early hours of January 8.

CCTV footage shows the bus halted on the roadside as smoke wafted from its interior.

The driver, Chadorn Phaenkamnerd, 28, said he had pulled over and immediately tried to douse the fire with an extinguisher, but strong winds caused it to rapidly spread.

Firefighters raced to the scene near the Bang Pakong Police Station in Chachoengsao province, where the blue Scania double-decker was engulfed in flames.

Four firetrucks battled the inferno, spraying water into the bus for nearly an hour before bringing the blaze under control.

Authorities said no one was injured in the early morning fire despite its intensity and proximity to traffic.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Noppadol Taweechart of the Bang Pakong district station said: 'Police will coordinate with forensic investigators to examine the scene further and determine the exact cause of the fire.'

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.