Horror as at least ten school children are burned alive inside when their school bus explodes on Thai motorway

At least ten schoolchildren were burned alive when their school bus exploded on a Thai highway.

The bus was carrying children from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam school in Uthai Thani province when it caught fire on a road in Pathum Thani province on the outskirts of Bangkok at around 12.38pm local time.

Dramatic footage showed flames engulfing the entire vehicle as firefighters battled to extinguish the inferno.

Officials said at least ten children were killed. They said they were in third grade, which means they were about nine or ten years old.

Gruesome photos from the crime scene showed their charred corpses inside the burned-out vehicle.

The rescued children (like the girl pictured above) suffered burns

Dramatic footage showed flames engulfing the entire vehicle as firefighters battled to extinguish the inferno

Firefighters took some of the children who escaped the fire to a nearby building, where they were counted

Firefighters took some of the children who escaped the fire to a nearby building, where they were counted.

Rescuers said at least 19 of the 42 passengers, including teachers and students, were rescued and rushed to hospital, while others remained missing.

Many of the rescued passengers suffered burns, with shocking images of a little girl suffering burns.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and police have cordoned off the area.

Local media report that one of the front tires exploded, causing the bus to spin out of control and crash into a metal fence on the side of the road.

The crash reportedly caused the fire that quickly engulfed the entire vehicle.