Heroin, opium, speed, crystal meth, kratom, cannabis and ketamine were among the drugs put to the pyre as part of a ceremony that has raised eyebrows internationally.

Footage shared widely on social media shows the use of explosives to detonate large stockpiles of illegal drugs, while commenters question whether the resulting smoke would be inhaled by local residents.

It led some to recall footage of a BBC reporter collapsing into giggles while reporting from a mass burning of opium.

Some 66 different kids of drugs and precursor chemicals were burned in the cities of Yangon, Mandalay, Taunggyi and Sagaing to mark the 38th International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reports.

A similar open-air “burning ceremony” for seized drugs was carried out in Laos on the same day, according to The Laotian Times.