A bus loaded with Myanmar workers crashed and burned in Tak province on Friday morning, killing 21 passengers.
The other 27 passengers managed to escape the inferno, but sustained injuries and were taken to hospital.
Reports from Tak province said the chartered bus was carrying 48 Myanmar workers from Mae Sot province to the Nava Nakorn Industrial Zone in Pathum Thani after they had completed registration of their work permits.
The migrants were among thousands who had successfully completed the lengthy and difficult work-permit registration process at the Labour Ministry.
The accident occurred on Highway 12 at the Taksin Maharat National Park in tambon Mae Thor.
First reports said that the engine of the bus caught fire and the blaze spread quickly through the vehicle.
Police said the bus was carrying a total of 50 people: the 48 Myanmar workers, the Thai driver and his wife. The fire was so intense that identifying the dead would require experts. One officer at the scene told a Bangkok Post reporter he could not distinguish between male and female corpses.
