BANGKOK - Fifteen tourists and their Thai guide had a lucky escape on Wednesday morning when their tour bus was engulfed in flames as it left the Thai capital of Bangkok for Ayutthaya.

Bus driver Kuanchit said he noticed smoke coming out from the luggage compartment at around 8am on Wednesday, soon after picking up a Polish tour group from Bangkok Palace Hotel.

The bus had entered an elevated section of the Si Rat Expressway in Chatuchak district when it caught fire.

The quick-thinking driver stopped the vehicle immediately in the leftmost lane and evacuated all the passengers to safety.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the bus ablaze on the highway above Bangkok’s main rail hub, Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal.

Long traffic jams built up on the expressway as emergency services dealt with the incident.

Firefighters took around 20 minutes to extinguish the flames, and the bus was gutted by the blaze. The passengers also lost luggage in the inferno.

Officials towed the burnt-out wreck away at 9.38am, and traffic flow quickly returned to normal.

Thai actress Benz Pornchita Na Songkhla posted a clip of the incident online, commenting that the expressway fire was frightening. She hoped that no one had been injured in the incident. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK