Mourners wept and monks prayed at a cremation ceremony in a small town in central Thailand for 23 young students and teachers who died in last week’s bus fire on a school field trip.

Thousands gathered in central Thailand on Tuesday to mark the last rites for 20 schoolchildren and their three teachers killed in a bus inferno last week. Devastated families gathered early on Tuesday at the school in Uthai Thani province where the victims studied and worked -- and where families had expected the bus to return safely.

OIC confirmed the bus had compulsory motor insurance from Viriyah Insurance. The Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) has coordinated with insurance companies to provide compensation to the families of those who died or were injured in the school bus fire on Tuesday,