68 of the 1,331 CNG buses inspected were found to be non-compliant with standards and were temporarily banned from operation.
The defects were detected during inspections carried out since October 4, following a tourist bus fire that killed 20 young children and three teachers in Pathum Thani on October 1.
See: Thailand: 20 children killed in CNG school bus fire
The bus was 54 years old and its conversion to compressed natural gas did not comply with regulations.
On Thursday, October 17, the Ministry of Land Transport said that defective buses accounted for 5% of the vehicles examined so far.
He added that expired gas cylinders and equipment were common problems.
The department said 12 buses taken off the road were later allowed to operate after their operators fixed the problems.
All bus operators have been given 15 days to resolve the issues and undergo re-inspection.
Thailand has about 13,400 CNG-powered buses on the roads.
The Ministry of Transport has ordered that all of them be inspected, but so far only 10% of the total registered with the ministry have been inspected.
Three injured young children remain in hospital receiving treatment for burns from the October 1 fire.
The fire broke out on a bus carrying students and teachers from Wat Khao Praya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani.
It later emerged that the bus operator, Chinnaboot Tour of Sing Buri, had attempted to conceal non-compliant CNG installations on other buses in its fleet.
See: Thailand: Terrible revelation in the bus fire that killed 20 children
The police have filed charges against the driver Samarn Chanthabut, the bus owner and the company owner.
On the same day as the Transport Ministry's announcement (Thursday), another bus carrying foreign tourists caught fire in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
Tourist bus caught fire in Nakhon Ratchasima on Thursday, October 17.
The worst was avoided, as the passengers got off the bus to go and eat in a restaurant.
See: Thailand: 50 foreign tourists narrowly escape bus fire
This bus was running on diesel, not CNG, and the cause of the fire is not yet known.
See also:
Thailand: Grief and anger at cremation of children killed on bus
Bus carrying 39 French tourists catches fire in Thailand
Minibus crash in Thailand: one dead, 13 foreign tourists injured
Source: Bangkok Post
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1 comment
If the figure of 5% average non-compliance with safety standards on the 13,400 buses and coaches running on LPG in Thailand is confirmed as inspections progress (and provided that these inspections are not corrupted by unscrupulous inspectors and owners of transport companies), this therefore implies that in the past and still currently, there are a total of 670 LPG-powered buses on the roads today, constituting rolling coffins for their passengers!!!
And at a rate of around 2,600 buses checked per month, it will take between 5 and 6 months to check the entire fleet of this particular vehicle...
This should therefore secure all public vehicles running on gas by April 2025 at the latest, assuming that these checks are mandatory annually on a fixed date to avoid a repeat of recent tragedies!