Haze from Indonesian fires spreads across South China Sea
Regional haze situation on Monday morning (Map: ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre)
- Thmey Thmey
- September 23, 2019 2:17 PM
ASEAN meteorological centre says ‘hotspot’ activities may persist over next few days
PHNOM PENH — Haze from forest fires in Indonesia is spreading across the South China Sea, the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre said Monday.
In the Indonesian part of Borneo, “scattered hotspots with smoke haze continued to be detected in West, Central and South Kalimantan,” the Singapore-based centre said.
“The smoke haze from Kalimantan has spread across the South China Sea and was affecting Singapore and some areas along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.”
In the southern ASEAN region, increased showers in the next few days “can help to improve the hazy conditions, but the hotspot activities in some parts of the southern ASEAN region may persist,” the centre said.
Vietnamese newspaper Tien Phong on Monday meanwhile quoted expert Dao Nhat Dinh as saying that wind from Indonesia was blowing towards the Gulf of Thailand.
The wind "then meets the southwest wind that flows back to Ho Chi Minh City, causing serious pollution,” Dinh reportedly said.
The newspaper, published by Vietnam’s National Communist Youth League, noted that “wildfires in Indonesia caused serious air pollution” in Ho Chi Minh City in 2015.
