A four-month-old infant reportedly died in the city of Palembang, South Sumatra yesterday, with the suspected cause of her death being haze from forest fires that have choked the region.
As reported by CNN Indonesia, the infant, named Elsa Pitaloka, began having difficulties breathing on Saturday. The village where she lived, Talang Buluh, in Banyuasin regency, has been shrouded in toxic haze for several weeks, affecting some 800 households.
Elsa's parents and village officials took her to Palembang for treatment. Sadly, by around 6:30pm yesterday, Elsa succumbed to her illness.
"The specialist said that it's likely to be ISPA (acute respiratory infection), maybe from bacteria, but we don't know because there hasn't been a thorough medical examination yet. Elsa was born healthy and normal, she had no disorders and her breathing problem came out of nowhere," said Agus Darwanto, a Talang Buluh village official who assisted Elsa's family in seeking treatment for the baby.
M. Hakim, who heads the Banyuasin Regency Health Agency, later said that the agency determined that Elsa died from pneumonia, likely from inhaling toxic haze particles.
"We implore citizens to wear face masks because of the harmful air quality and abundance of smog," he said.