BANGKOK (AFP) – Air pollution in the Thai capital forced more than 350 schools to close yesterday, city authorities said, the highest number in five years.
Bangkok officials also announced free public transport for a week in a bid to reduce traffic in a city notorious for noxious exhaust fumes.
Seasonal air pollution has long afflicted Thailand, like many countries in the region, but this week’s hazy conditions have shuttered the most schools since 2020.
“It’s hard to breathe… I really feel the burn in my throat,” Benjawan Suknae, 61, a drinks seller, told AFP.
“I think (school closures) could help to a certain point.”
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said it had closed 352 schools across 31 districts due to air pollution.
On Thursday, more than 250 schools in Bangkok were closed, and officials urged people to work from home and restricted heavy vehicles in the city.
Air pollution hits the Southeast Asian nation seasonally, as colder, stagnant winter air combines with smoke from crop stubble burning and car fumes.
By yesterday, the level of PM2.5 pollutants – cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs – hit 108 microgrammes per cubic metre, according to IQAir.
The reading makes the Thai capital the world’s seventh-most polluted major city currently.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 24-hour average exposures should not be more than 15 for most days of the year.
By yesterday morning, 352 of the 437 schools under the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) had shut their doors, affecting thousands of students.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Thursday ordered a ban on stubble burning – intentionally burning leftover crops to clear fields – with those responsible risking legal prosecution.
In another bid to curb pollution, a government minister said yesterday that public transport in Bangkok would be free for a week.
