BANGKOK - People in Thai capital Bangkok witnessed the strange sight of their shadows disappearing completely on Thursday.

At 12.16pm, the city experienced the rare zero-shadow phenomenon as the sun moved directly overhead in the sky.

The shadows of all vertical objects – people, trees, skyscrapers and poles – vanished for a couple of minutes, before the Sun and Earth moved out of sync.

The zero-shadow day occurs twice a year in all locations between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, a band stretching around the Earth 23.5 deg north and south of the Equator.

In Thailand, the Sun is directly overhead on one day in April or May and another in July or August, according to the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD).

Thailand’s first zero-shadow day this year occurred in the country’s southernmost district of Betong in Yala province on April 4. The phenomenon is moving north gradually and will arrive in the country’s northernmost district of Mae Sai in Chiang Rai on May 22, said the TMD.

Bangkok residents will get to see the phenomenon again this year on Aug 16 at 12.22pm.

The TMD added that the zero-shadow day is not necessarily the hottest day of the year, as the temperature also depends on factors such as rainfall, cloud cover, accumulated heat and monsoon conditions. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK