Buddhist temple accidentally set on fire at lantern festival in Thailand, video shows

A Buddhist pagoda was inadvertently set ablaze during a lantern festival in northern Thailand, according to media reports. The popular festival has raised concerns about safety in the past.

At the Yi Peng Lantern Festival in Chiang Mai, which draws thousands of tourists, lanterns are lit and released into the night sky, according to Thaiger, an English language Thai news site.

The event, which is also celebrated in other parts of Thailand, dates back hundreds of years and was originally held to mark the end of monsoon season.

This year’s festival, held on Nov. 8, was interrupted when a floating lantern landed on a plastic pagoda, causing the top of it to ignite, according to Thaiger.

In a video posted by the South China Morning Post, the pagoda can be seen engulfed in flames and black smoke.

No one was injured and the fire was quickly extinguished, according to the outlet.

One person commented that the lanterns are “dangerous for households, aeroplanes and the environment,” according to Thaiger.

In past years, the lanterns have burned homes to the ground and damaged power lines, according to Nikkei Asia.

Flights have also been canceled or rescheduled due to concerns about obstructed flight paths, according to the outlet.

In advance of a similar lantern festival in 2014, Thai authorities threatened festivalgoers with the death penalty if they released lanterns too close to airports, according to the Guardian.

This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 8:03 AM with the headline "Buddhist temple accidentally set on fire at lantern festival in Thailand, video shows."