The Land Transport Department (LTD) has impounded five coaches at a garage in Nakhon Ratchasima, which belong to the Shinbutr Tour Company, which owns the coach in which 20 schoolchildren and three teachers burned to death on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, two LTD officials in charge of vehicle inspection have been transferred, pending the outcome of an investigation into their role in approving the roadworthiness of the ill-fated double-decker coach.
LTD Director-General Jirut Wisanjit said that the transport company’s owner has refused to send their five buses for inspection at the LTD office in Lop Buri as ordered, forcing the department to use the on-board GPS systems to locate them at a private garage in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Officials went to the garage, where mechanics were found to be in the process of removing extra CNG canisters from the five buses, to cover up the illegal modification, said Jirut.
Shinbutr Tour had sought permission to install six CNG canisters in each of its coaches, but the coach which caught fire was found to have been illegally fitted with 11 canisters.
The LTD chief said that the department has already suspended the operating license of Shinbutr Tour Company and the license of the mechanic responsible for installing CNG canisters on the schoolchildren’s coach in excess of the number permitted.
He said that the coach’s owner, the driver and the mechanic responsible for inspecting the gas canisters on that coach will be questioned, to determine the extent of their liability as pertains to the tragic accident.
