Bangkok temperature hits 30-year low

Thailand's capital has seen its coldest temperatures in three decades, as the normally balmy Southeast Asian country is experiencing one of its longest winter cold snaps in years. Oparg Karankawinpong, deputy director of the Department of Disease Control, said Thursday that as many as 63 people in 24 provinces have died from cold-related ailments since the cool season began in late October, with the north and northeast being the country's chilliest areas. He said hotter weather was expected to begin in mid-February. Thai media quoted Songkram Aksorn, deputy director general of the country's meteorological department, as saying that Bangkok's temperature fell Thursday morning to 15.6 degree Celsius (60.08 degrees Fahrenheit), the lowest in 30 years. He added that the current cold season lasting almost three months was the longest in a decade, according to a news agency.