Thick haze, low visibility in Riau city
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 06/11/2009 10:56 AM
Thick haze blanketed Dumai city in Riau on Thursday morning reducing visibility to as low as 30 meters, forcing motorists to turn on their vehicles' lights during the day.
Ikhsan Abdillah, chief of Dumai's Manggala Agni forest firemen, told Antara state news agency the thick haze had not been expected.
“Satellite images showed there were only 30 hot spots in Riau province on Wednesday, with most of them in our neighboring regency,” he said.
Ikhsan has yet to receive the latest report on forest fires, but, assessing situation in Dumai, he predicted that there must be around 100 hotspots in the province.
Separately, Van Switen Sitanggang, head of air traffic control at Dumai's Pinang Kampai Airport, said they have forbidden planes to land at the airport with the current visibility of less than 500 meters. (dre)
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