A toddler sparked concern when he was seen smoking on the steps of a bridge in Bangkok.

Footage shows the boy, 4, blowing smoke as he held a lit cigarette between his fingers at the Rama VIII Bridge on May 26.

He flashed a proud smile at onlooker Taveechai, who then snatched the cancer stick from him and snuffed it out.

Taveechai said: 'I visited the Rama VIII Bridge and saw this boy smoking a cigarette. I would never intervene if he were a little older because I went through the same thing when I was young.

'I saw my parents smoking and did the same. This boy is the same. His parents appear at the end of the video. The little boy is only about four or five years old.'

Authorities have since rescued the youngster, who had been living with his parents in a makeshift shelter on the bridge for more than a year.

Charity worker Guntouch Pongpaiboonwet said he sent his team to locate the family.

The boy's father said: 'My son was probably just copying the teenagers. There were some teenagers loitering around.'

His mother said she was the sole breadwinner of the family as her husband was unable to work due to health problems.

She added they survived on free food and drinks from charities, and earned money by selling fish they caught from a nearby river. However, she said they could not afford rent with her income.

The boy has been placed in a shelter under the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. His siblings were reported to have been staying with relatives in other parts of Thailand.