A bus carrying dozens of primary school children has crashed and caught fire just outside the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Sixteen children and three teachers are reported to have escaped, but 22 pupils and three teachers are still unaccounted for, according to the country’s transport minister.

Thailand’s prime minister said the accident resulted in “deaths and injuries” – but the exact number of fatalities has not yet been confirmed.

Photographs show the bus completely destroyed by the fire. Investigators are said to have been unable to enter the vehicle because of the heat, according to local media.

Eight of the 19 people who managed to escape were sent to hospital for treatment, a health ministry official said.

The bus was one of three that were carrying children and teachers returning from a school field trip in the northern province of Uthai Thani.

Transport Minister Suriyahe Juangroongruangkit said the bus was powered by “extremely risky” compressed natural gas.

“This is a very tragic incident,” Mr Suriyahe told reporters at the scene.

“The ministry must find a measure… if possible, for passenger vehicles like this to be banned from using this type of fuel because it’s extremely risky.”

Thailand’s prime minister, meanwhile, has ordered ministers to visit the scene.

“As a mother, I would like to express my deepest regrets to the families of those killed,” Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.

“The government will be responsible for all the medical costs and the compensation for those killed,” she added.

Piyalak Thinkaew, who is leading the search, said the bodies of those killed were so badly burned, it was hard to identify them.

“Some of the bodies we found were very, very small,” he told reporters at the scene, adding that the fire started at the front of the bus.

“The kids’ instinct was to escape to the back so the bodies were there,” he said.

The bus was travelling on a highway into Bangkok when a tyre burst, sending it crashing into a barrier, a rescue worker said in footage broadcast on local television.

Video footage from the scene showed flames engulfing the bus as it burned under an overpass, huge clouds of dense black smoke billowing into the sky.

The driver has fled the site of the crash but authorities are confident he will be tracked down, according to Thailand’s Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who spoke to reporters at the scene.

The ages of the children on board remain unclear, but the school has pupils between three and 15 years old.

Thailand has one of the worst road safety records in the world, with unsafe vehicles and poor driving contributing to roughly 20,000 fatalities a year.

Good morning and welcome back to Energy Source coming to you today from London.

Overnight the Israeli army crossed the border into Lebanon, bringing the Middle East closer to an all-out war that pulls in Iran. The incursion is Israel’s first land offensive against Hizbollah since 2006 and yet oil prices have barely moved. Brent crude was flat on Monday and down 2 per cent on Tuesday morning in London amid expectations elsewhere that Libya was preparing to restore almost 1mn barrels a day of production.

For now traders are still betting that the escalating conflict will not disrupt supply from any of the region’s major producers and that, if it does, Opec+ members, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, will have more than enough spare capacity to compensate for disruption elsewhere.

Brent crude prices closed down more than 3 per cent last week after I reported that after two years of production cuts Saudi Arabia is committed to increasing output from December 1. Given the kingdom’s plans and weaker than expected oil demand growth from China, crude prices may not rally even if the conflict worsens. We will keep watching.

Our main report today takes us to Lagos, where our west Africa correspondent Aanu Adeoye asks how much Nigerians should pay for petrol.

Thanks for reading,

Tom

Nigeria’s ‘polarising’ petrol subsidies under new scrutiny

How much is a litre of petrol worth in Nigeria? Now that the country’s 650,000-barrel-a-day Dangote refinery has started producing the fuel, making it locally available, the age-old conundrum needs solving.

In most countries, it is a straightforward answer predicated on the global price of crude and the forces of demand and supply peculiar to each nation.

Nigeria is not one of those countries.

For decades, Africa’s largest oil producer, which discovered oil four years before it gained independence in 1960 from the British, has allowed its citizens to pay some of the lowest petrol prices in the world, subsidised annually by the government to the tune of billions of dollars. In a country bereft of social welfare benefits that typically flow from the government to its people, Nigerians regard cheap petrol as the only social good their oil-rich nation bestows on them.

But the subsidies are financially ruinous and the bill keeps rising every year. In 2022, subsidies guzzled up $10bn and left the state oil company NNPC nothing to remit to the treasury. Spending on fuel handouts represent a not insignificant slice of the country’s GDP. Subsidies are also largely regressive in that they mostly benefit car-owning urbanites, according to an IMF analysis, as well as those well off enough to afford a petrol-powered generator to substitute for erratic electricity supply from the national grid.

There was a mainstream economic consensus — from the IMF, World Bank and your neighbourhood economist — that the subsidies were unsustainable and had to be cut. Yet it became the third rail of Nigerian society, a political potato that was too hot to touch. Periodic and often halfhearted attempts by previous governments to eliminate these subsidies led to nationwide protests.

“Petrol prices are such a polarising topic in Nigeria,” said Noelle Okwedy, at consultant Nextier, an energy advisory. “It’s a combination of factors: high inflation and low trust that funds that would be saved from not paying subsidies would go into development or healthcare or education.”

Then came Bola Tinubu, who became Nigerian president last year. In his inaugural address and to everyone’s surprise, he declared the subsidies were “gone”. Fuel prices tripled overnight as people scrambled. It fed into already worsening inflation. But Tinubu was hailed as embracing economic orthodoxy that would set the country on the path to growth.

His resolve held for only a few months. A decision to devalue the local naira currency meant fuel imports became unbearably expensive and Tinubu’s government reintroduced what the IMF called “implicit” subsidies by capping fuel pump prices. The landed cost of petrol was more than N1,000/litre ($0.60) but petrol station prices hovered around N630 for months. A leaked paper from the finance minister admitted the slumping currency meant the government was on course to pay more for subsidies this year than last.

This is where petrol imports — another anomaly of the Nigerian economy — come in. Despite being a major oil producer and a member of Opec, Nigeria has been unable to refine its own crude for decades, with state-owned refineries moribund, billions of dollars in investment notwithstanding. And so an absurdity continued for decades: Nigeria sent its crude to refineries abroad and imported finished products that the state then subsidised before reaching final consumers.

When the NNPC admitted last month that it was financially strained because of petrol import costs and it owed billions of dollars to its suppliers, it became inevitable that prices would go up. They have since risen by 45 per cent but are still below what they would cost without the help of the government.

Enter Aliko Dangote . . . 

Nigeria’s most consequential industrialist of his generation built his empire on cement and acquired a fortune of nearly $14bn that made him Africa’s richest person. Dangote’s “single train” refinery, the largest of its kind in the world, has long being touted as a potential solution to Nigeria’s importation woes. The facility, located on the outskirts of Lagos, shipped its first petrol last month, sold solely to NNPC, an arrangement brokered by the Tinubu government, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Dangote, who has dollar-denominated debt to service, will inevitably sell petrol to NNPC at global prices. He said as much in a television interview last week. “The removal of subsidy is totally dependent on the government, not on us,” he said. “We have to make a profit. We built something worth $20bn so definitely we have to make money.”

Undoubtedly, Dangote’s home-brewed petrol will be cheaper than the imported variety but it remains unclear whether the state will allow NNPC to sell at market prices. In theory, fully eliminating subsidies could leave enough cash to invest in other areas, particularly health, education and social welfare programmes. But in a country where trust in government is low and a social safety net absent, few believe any savings will be properly channelled. And with an unpopular government sensitive to any protests, there is an understandable reluctance to let the markets fully decide the cost of petrol.

Okwedy said: “The horse has left the stable on subsidies. The NNPC can’t afford it and the government can’t afford it.”

“Something will force them to remove the subsidies: either they are broke and they can’t afford it any more even if people protest or oil prices decline and the naira improves and there’s no need for it any more,” she added. “Other than that, I don’t see them [willingly] taking it off.”

Nigeria needs to figure out how much a litre of petrol costs — it would have far-reaching consequences for a cash-strapped nation. (Aanu Adeoye)

Recommended watching: Can the Dangote refinery help to transform Nigeria’s oil industry — and the wider economy? This FT film explores the country’s struggle to break its “oil curse”.

Power Points

Energy Source is written and edited by Jamie Smyth, Myles McCormick, Amanda Chu, Tom Wilson and Malcolm Moore, with support from the FT’s global team of reporters. Reach us at energy.source@ft.com and follow us on X at @FTEnergy. Catch up on past editions of the newsletter here.

The Financial Conduct Authority has secured its first conviction for illegal crypto ATM operation in the UK.

Olumide Osunkoya pleaded guilty to five offences at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday (30 Sept).

Osunkoya, 45, was also convicted for using false documents and possession of criminal property.

Last month, the FCA charged Osunkoya with running a multimillion-pound crypto ATMs without authorisation.

The regulator alleged that Osunkoya operated a network of at least 11 crypto ATMs that processed more than £2.6m in crypto transactions between 29 December 2021 and 8 September 2023.

During that period, he acted as a director of a company named Gidiplus Ltd and later as a sole practitioner.

It was also alleged that Osunkoya, the first person to be prosecuted for illegally operating crypto ATMs, completed no customer due diligence or source of funds checks on those who used his crypto ATMs located in local convenience shops across the country.

The court heard that those likely committing money laundering or tax evasion were using his machines. Osunkoya is suspected to have made substantial profit from the operation.

Crypto ATMs are machines that allow customers to buy or convert money into cryptoassets. There are currently no legal crypto ATM operators in the UK.

The court also heard that Osunkoya created a false alias to try and evade FCA rules.

Sentencing for the offences will take place at Southwark Crown Court at a date to be confirmed.

A HOTEL located on the English Riviera has been rated among the cheapest places to stay in the UK.

The Trelawney Hotel in Torquay, Devon has earned itself a place on Tripadvisor‘s top 10 cheapest hotels list for offering a room rate of just £58 a night.

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Offering “luxury” bed and breakfast accommodation, guests consistently comment on the hotel’s great value and service.

One guest who stayed in June this year wrote on the review website: “Fabulous hotel. Fantastic value for money and only 5 minutes walk down into town.

“Liz and Paul, the owners are very friendly and are very good hosts.”

The hotel is nestled conveniently close to the seafront, just 300m from Torre Abbey Sands.

As the main beach in Torquay, it’s popular with holidaymakers from the surrounding hotels, day visitors and locals with its long sandy shore and great views across to the coastal town of Brixham.

Torre Abbey Meadows is also nearby – a grassy expanse which is perfect for picnics.

The hotel has a variety of rooms on offer, including twin, double, king size, family, and four-poster beds, all of which have en suite bathrooms, colour TVs and complimentary beverage trays.

And alongside good room rates, an ideal location, and comfortable rooms, guests seem to be enamoured with the spotless cleanliness throughout the hotel and its freshly-cooked breakfast.

One guest wrote on Tripadvisor: “The rooms are spotlessly clean and the beds really comfortable…..a real home from home.”

Another said: “No dogs, No dirty stains on the carpets!!
Everything was spotless!”

As part of its extensive breakfast menu, the hotel uses local suppliers where possible, for example, for its free range eggs, bacon and sausages.

Another guest wrote: “Breakfast was delicious. You can opt for as much, or as little as you want and the ordering of breakfast the day before, is a great idea. Definitely would stay again.”

Someone else penned: “A range of cereals , fruit, yoghurts, fresh orange and apple juice, tea and coffee was great, full English breakfast was lovely. I myself really enjoyed the poached eggs.”

One thing in particular that sets Trelawney apart from other hotels is it has an honesty bar, with guests saying they “loved the idea! and it “was a really nice touch”.

As well as being close to a beach, the hotel is ideally located for those who want to explore further afield with the South Devon coastline and Dartmoor National Park.

The English Riviera Conference and Leisure Centre is within 250 metres of the hotel, where you can visit one of its many staged events and swim in its wave machine pool.

Torquay town centre is just a 10 minute walk away from the hotel, with plenty of shops and places to eat.

But if you don’t fancy walking, one guest shared a tip: “A bus runs you into town for just £1.50!”

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The Trelawny Hotel came fourth on Tripadvisor’s cheap hotels list, but offers cheaper rates than the hotels before it.

For Brits looking for a cheap holiday abroad, Marrakesh has been named the best budget Autumn getaway.

It was crowned Most Budget Friendly Autumn Getaway 2024 by DiscoverCars.com.

Former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner has pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud, linked to claims made against British Iraq War veterans.

Shiner, 67, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Monday where he entered the guilty pleas, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

The former boss of Public Interest Lawyers was struck off by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2017 for pursuing false torture and murder allegations against British troops.

The head of the NCA’s International Corruption Unit said the conviction “is a milestone”.

The three charges relate to allegations of fraud offences over legal aid claims made in 2007.

Then, Shiner, from Birmingham, made an application to the Legal Services Commission, seeking up to £200,000 of legal aid funding for his firm to represent clients including Khuder Al-Sweady, in an application for judicial review.

It was claimed that his nephew, Hamid Al-Sweady, was unlawfully killed while in the custody of British troops at military base Camp Abu Naji.

A lengthy inquiry into wider allegations of abuse at the hands of British soldiers established “beyond doubt” that all the most serious allegations had been found to be “wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies”.

The inquiry report said that Hamid Al-Sweady had been killed “outright” during fighting and was not detained alive.

The NCA said that, in total, Shiner received around £3 million in the value of the contract and that the ensuing Al-Sweady inquiry cost the tax payer £24 million.

The agency said Shiner had failed to disclose that an agent acted on his behalf and had been cold calling and making unsolicited approaches to potential clients in Iraq.

The second count of fraud was levelled after he was found to have not disclosed he was paying referral fees – a practice not permitted while obtaining a legal aid contract.

He was also convicted for providing a witness statement to the Commission in support of his application, which was again obtained via an unsolicited approach.

Because this information was not disclosed, Shiner was able to gain a valuable legal aid contract to pursue the judicial review, the agency said.

Andy Kelly, head of the NCA’s International Corruption Unit said: “This conviction is a milestone in what has been a thorough and complex domestic and international investigation.”

“Shiner’s actions resulted in untold pressure and anxiety on members of the British Armed Forces, pursuing legal challenges funded through dishonest actions,” he said.

Shiner will be sentenced on 2 December.

The former boss of Fujitsu UK has admitted having four meetings with Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, some of which included discussing Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system.

Previous media reports had indicated that Michael Keegan, the husband of former Conservative minister Gillian Keegan, only met Ms Vennells once and that Horizon was not discussed.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon software made it look like money was missing from Post Office branch accounts.

Lawyers for Mr Keegan said he regretted that sub-postmasters were prosecuted unfairly and denied playing any part in it.

Mr Keegan has confirmed to BBC News he had four meetings with Ms Vennells during his 13 months as chief executive of Fujitsu UK, from May 2014 to June 2015.

Two of these were face-to-face meetings and the other two were telephone calls.

During his time in charge, MPs launched an inquiry into the Horizon software, and Second Sight, a team of forensic accountants, were investigating the system.

Ms Vennells was chief executive of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019.

In 2022, Mr Keegan successfully complained to the press regulator IPSO, about a Sunday Times article. A summary of the complaint in the IPSO ruling, indicated that he had met Ms Vennells only once.

Lawyers for Mr Keegan said that at the time, he had only remembered having one face-to-face meeting.

Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said he was surprised to hear about the meetings.

He said: “Certainly [the Post Office IT inquiry’s] conclusions about Fujitsu will be one of the things in particular that I look out for in [the] inquiry report.”

In response to a Freedom of Information request by the BBC, the Post Office said that after a review of emails, it had located references to six meetings during Mr Keegan’s time in charge but that it was “unable to verify whether all these meetings took place”.

It also said it did not believe the information it held was a “complete record of all meetings between both parties”.

Mr Keegan’s lawyers said two of the meetings referred to by the Post Office never happened.

One conversation, in 2015, between Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells followed Fujitsu being approached by BBC Panorama about its investigation into the Post Office and the flawed Horizon IT system.

And despite previous media reports claiming that the Horizon system was never discussed, a letter from Mr Keegan to Ms Vennells includes reference to the “current application”. It appears that the application he was referring to was Horizon.

In the letter dated 14 November 2014, Mr Keegan appears to be arguing against the Post Office shaking up the structure of its IT systems, including Horizon, and inviting new suppliers to bid to run them.

He also appears to propose that the Post Office should keep at least some parts of Horizon and pitched this to Ms Vennells as an “evolutionary approach that will provide the digital front end you need but will retain much of the investment already made in the stable back end of the current application [Horizon]”.

Mr Keegan’s lawyers said that his involvement in the Post Office contract related to strategic and commercial decisions, he did not discuss the details of Horizon with Ms Vennells, and that the letter related to Fujitsu’s decision to exit as the supplier of the Front Office Tower – the name given to the IT contract which encompassed Horizon.

The documents reveal that Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells met for the first time within days of his appointment as chief executive of Fujitsu UK.

In an email dated 23 May 2014, he writes: “It was good to meet on Monday.”

He thanks Ms Vennells for her “candour” and adds: “Within Private Sector, you are our most important customer by far and I want that position to remain as such for the foreseeable future.”

His second meeting with Ms Vennells is confirmed in a letter dated 14 November 2014, which he says is a follow-up to “our conversation on 31 October”.

Mr Keegan’s lawyers said the first meeting was not about Horizon and was attended by several other people.

They said the second meeting was a short telephone call to inform the Post Office that Fujitsu would not be bidding in the procurement process to replace Horizon.

A few weeks later, according to the records disclosed by the Post Office, the two chief executives met on 2 December.

Ms Vennells followed this up with an email in which she wrote: “Thanks again for the meeting.”

Lawyers for Mr Keegan told the BBC this was the only time their client attended a one-to-one meeting with Ms Vennells and the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Fujitsu exiting as a supplier of Horizon.

The documents also give the impression of a close relationship.

“Thank you for your time and your honesty. We both have concerns in this situation and I’m glad we were able to share them in a frank way,” Ms Vennells writes.

“I suggest we keep regular contact – and breakfast on me next time, or a drink in (REDACTED).”

Mr Keegan replies by email 10 minutes later.

“My pleasure and really good to spend time together to discuss all these matters in such an open way.”

Mr Keegan’s lawyers say the pair did not keep in regular contact or meet again in person.

They did however have one further telephone call, on 25 June, after Fujitsu was approached by BBC Panorama about the programme’s investigation.

The following week Mr Keegan started a new role as head of Fujitsu Hardware.

The Panorama investigation was originally due to air on 22 June 2015 before being delayed until 29 June, four days after Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells’ call.

The programme, which broadcast the testimony of a Fujitsu whistleblower, eventually aired on 17 August.

The Post Office said it had found references to two other meetings over the final weekend of May 2015 but Mr Keegan denies they took place.

Mr Keegan’s lawyers told BBC News that the prosecutions of sub-postmasters as a result of Horizon data had effectively ceased by 2013, pre-dating his appointment as UK chief executive.

The BBC’s Freedom of Information request was originally made in January 2024 when Gillian Keegan was education secretary and her husband was four years into a Cabinet Office role overseeing the government’s relationship with a key commercial supplier.

The Post Office only responded to the BBC’s request in August, more than six months after the deadline required by law.

Mr Keegan voluntarily stepped down from his Cabinet Office job in late January while his wife lost her seat at the general election in July.