Thick haze from forest and land fires in Indonesia disrupted air travel on Wednesday, while deteriorating conditions also pushed air quality to unhealthy levels across dozens of locations in neighbouring Malaysia.
In Indonesia’s Riau province, two flights from Jakarta were unable to land at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru after visibility reportedly fell to around 600 metres.
Lion Air flight JT292 was forced to return to Jakarta, while Citilink flight QG936 was diverted to Batam in the Riau Islands, according to airport authorities.
Batam itself was also covered by haze, with visibility reduced to around two to three kilometres. Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said smoke from forest and land fires elsewhere in Sumatra and Kalimantan had been carried towards Batam and surrounding areas.
The effects were also being felt across the border in Malaysia, where 36 locations registered unhealthy Air Pollutant Index readings as of 10am.
Johan Setia in Selangor recorded the highest reading at 191, while Cheras in Kuala Lumpur and Nilai in Negeri Sembilan both reached 189.
As authorities worked to contain the fires, Indonesia accepted an offer of assistance from Malaysia for firefighting operations, including the possible use of aerial water bombing and amphibious aircraft.
Officials from the two countries were coordinating through diplomatic channels over the deployment of firefighting resources as efforts continued to control the fires and reduce the regional haze.