Jakarta – Thick haze from forest fires and farmland burnings blanketed the Indonesian province of Jambi, delayed flights to and from the eastern Sumatra region, officials said on Tuesday.
"Thick smoke has limited the visibility to only 200 meters this morning. That was far below of around two-kilometers visibility needed for an aircraft to land or take-off," said M. Sidabutar, chief of the Jambi's Sultan Thaha airport.
Sidabutar said a Sriwijaya Air flight had to be diverted to the South Sumatra airport after three landing attempts failed on Tuesday morning due to the haze.
Jambi's forestry officials said fires has ravaged through the province's Berbak National Park, and have already burned up to 300 hectares of forestry areas.
Fires have also continued to spread through forestry areas in the districts of Muaro Jambi and Tanjung Jabung since late last week, said Gatot Muryanto, head of the Jambi's forestry office.
In the adjacent province of Riau, government officials said thick smoke from forest fires and cropland burnings have also limited visibility.
"Visibility was limited to only about 50-to-100 meters between 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. this morning," Syamsuddin, head of theprovince's meteorology office in the provincial capital ofPekanbaru, told DPA by telephone.
However, the visibility improved about two hours later, Syamsuddin said.
Environmentalists have warned that thick haze from forest fires and cropland burnings would continue to blanket cities in Sumatra until heavy rains, expected in October, come, unless the slash-and-burn clearing activity stopped immediately.
Indonesia banned the practice of open field burning in 1999 after widespread fires caused a thick haze to blanket parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore that year.
The fires sparked diplomatic rows with Indonesia's neighbors, which are grouped in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
However, enforcement of the law in Indonesia is often lax as corrupt officials turn a blind eye. The annual haze phenomenon is at its worst during the dry season which runs from July to October.
Indonesia lost up to US$2.7 billion in economic damage in massive forest fires and the resulting haze in 1997 and 1998.