At least 16 people were hospitalised in Thailand on Tuesday when a school bus carrying an estimated 44 students and teachers on a field trip caught fire on the outskirts of the capital Bangkok, the government said.

The vehicle was returning from a field trip and caught fire outside Bangkok. Rescuers were still searching for bodies in the wreckage.

A school bus carrying dozens of students exploded into flames near Bangkok on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, with 13 others unaccounted for and feared dead, Thai officials said. Most of the people killed or still missing as rescue efforts proceeded Tuesday evening were children and teenagers between the ages of 6 and 16.