BANGKOK — Whorls of thick dust in the air at Lumphini Park visible in a widely shared video clip has stoked further fears about Bangkok’s air pollution crisis.
Facebook user Pidech Ponpipat on Monday posted footage showing thick dust reflected in a spotlight across from the Dusit Thani Hotel.
“We probably really need to wear a mask,” Nutnapun Akkhajiratorn said in a comment to the post.
Read: Bangkok Eyes Burning? Residents Advised to Get Good Masks
The post was shared more than 41,000 times as of Tuesday morning and had received more than 4,700 comments.
“Truly scary,” another Facebook user, May Angkavichai, wrote.
The original video was posted to YouTube earlier this month one year ago. One netizen suggested it didn’t show pollution at all.
1. The video was taken last year
2. These are some kind of flying termites and not dust, this happens every year at the end of the "winter" season https://t.co/0ajpCxyjHk— ΛnDrΞs (@cyrbkk) February 13, 2018
Bangkok residents, especially those with respiratory disease, have been advised to wear masks that filter super fine particles as the city’s air quality has become among the world’s worst in recent weeks.
According to Greenpeace Thailand, such pollution – which is invisible to the eye – killed 37,500 people in Thailand in 2015.
Correction: Although the huge interest in the video clip seems linked to current anxieties about air quality in Bangkok, the original video was posted one year ago.
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