Thick haze from fires had drifted to neighbouring countries at the height of the dry season last month, triggering a diplomatic dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia. Some schools which had reopened after air quality improved, shut again this week. Authorities in Palembang, the provincial capital of South Sumatra, closed schools for three days from Monday with an extension if conditions did not improve, state news agency Antara reported. An aerial photograph taken on Monday showing Palembang engulfed in thick, yellow haze featured on the front page of the Jakarta Post newspaper on Tuesday. For months, Indonesia has deployed thousands of personnel to fight the fires, utilising dozens of aircraft to conduct water bombing and cloud-seeding efforts to trigger rain.

Source: bd News24 October 15, 2019 07:30 UTC