Indonesia Rents Russian Aircraft to Extinguish Fire
Thursday, 12 October, 2006 | 18:50 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Indonesian government will rent two Ilyushin aircraft from Russia to extinguish forest fires.

“The aircrafts can drop water on hot spots,” said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday (11/10).

He went on to say these Ilyushin aircraft are only used to put out large fires.

Small hot spots will be extinguished with existing equipment.

The rented aircrafts will bring loads of 40 tons of water each to be dropped at the hot spots.

According to the president, the government’s measures also include intensifying the fire extinguishing operation by land and air.

The National Coordinating Board for Disaster and Refugee Relief, he said, leads the operation.

Yudhoyono said that law enforcement is still being applied to plantation companies that clear land by burning the forests.

In addition to plantations, local people are involved in clearing land by starting fires.

The president apologized to neighboring countries for the loss suffered due to the smoke from Indonesia.

“On behalf of Indonesia, I apologize to neighboring countries,” he said.

The government will explain about the smoke problem at the environment ministerial level meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Pekanbaru on October 13.

The meeting will be attended by five ASEAN members including Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

Oktamandjaya Wiguna