LAHORE: Air pollution in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, skyrocketed on Saturday (November 2), with an official calling it a record for the smog-choked megacity.
For days, the city of 14 million people has been shrouded in smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-quality diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning and winter chill.
The air quality index, which measures a range of pollutants, reached 1,067 – well above the level of 300 considered “hazardous” – according to IQAir data.
“We have never reached the level of 1,000,” Jahangir Anwar, a senior environmental protection official in Lahore, told AFP.
“The air quality index will remain high for the next three to four days,” Anwar said.
The level of deadly pollutant PM2.5 – the fine particles in the air that cause the most damage to health – peaked at 610, more than 40 times the limit of 15 in a 24-hour period considered healthy by the World Health Organization (WHO). ).
“As a mother, I am full of anxiety,” Lilly Mirza, 42, told AFP from the strangled city.
“Last year wasn’t so bad, it was much better. Someone needs to tell us what happened. Did a pollution bomb go off somewhere?”
Mirza said she felt “completely terrified” after taking her son to a sports match in one of the pollution hotspots.
“I came home so stressed.”
