National

Haze Causes Flight Delays in Pekanbaru
Wednesday, 23 June, 2004 | 14:51 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Pekanbaru, Riau:The haze caused by forest fires in Riau province has caused visibility problems for people in Pekanbaru, Riau, and forced the delay of 18 flights to and from the city.

Angkasa Pura II Pekanbaru head Sutrisno, who is responsible for the departure and arrival of planes in Pekanbaru, said that starting from Tuesday morning (22/06), the visibility range in Pekanbaru has only reached between 300 and 400 meters.

“Knowing this, we had to delay all flights from Pekanbaru and inform this matter to other airports. However, we are yet to close the airport,” he told reporters in Pekanbaru on Tuesday (22/06).

Sutrisno said that the visibility range of around 300-500 meters was the worst situation resulting from forest fires in the last six years.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Impact Controlling Board (Bapedal) and the Forest Office in Riau said that based on the NOA Satellite observation it had received, the fire spots in Riau had increased to 403 spots from 212 last week.

“Based on the NOA Satellite observation we have received, the fire spots have increased to the number of 403,” said Riau Forest office head, Asral Rachman, after distributing free masks in Riau.

Rachman stated that Rokan Hilir, that borders with North Sumatra, was the area mostly affected by the fires.

“To prevent forest fires from spreading to other areas, the forest office has deployed a team of fire workers to extinguish fire spots in several areas. On Tuesday (22/06), this team shall extinguish fire spots in the suburbs of Pekanbaru city,” he said. (Evalisa Siregar - Tempo News Room)