Singapore issues health advisory over thick haze

Singapore's environment agency has issued a health advisory as thick haze from fires in Indonesia choke the city-state.

Singapore's pollution index was 128 today. A reading above 101 is considered unhealthy.

"Persons with existing heart or respiratory ailments should reduce physical exertion and outdoor activity," the National Environment Agency advised.

"The general population should reduce vigorous outdoor activity."

The fog-like haze, which has affected Singapore for several days, carries with it a burning smell.

"The smoke haze situation has deteriorated overnight," the agency said in a statement.

"The prevailing winds have remained southerly to south-westerly overnight and they have brought smoke haze from southern Sumatra to Singapore."

It says the latest satellite pictures show 506 hot spots - large areas with high temperatures indicating fires - and thick smoke haze in Indonesia's Sumatra island, mainly in Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra provinces.

"The prevailing winds are transporting the smoke haze towards the Malacca Straits, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore," the agency said.

The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur also reported unhealthy air levels yesterday, while flights were disrupted in the country's Sarawak province on Borneo island.

A spokesman for Singapore's Changi Airport says the haze has not affected operations at the regional aviation hub.

In Indonesian Borneo, officials say hundreds of firefighters, aided by police and volunteers, have been dousing illegal forest fires causing acrid haze blanketing western parts of the island.

Satellite images taken over Indonesian Borneo on Wednesday show 713 hot spots.

Indonesia's annual burn-off causes a haze that typically smothers parts of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as Indonesia itself.

The Indonesian Government has outlawed land-clearing by fire but weak enforcement means the ban is largely ignored.

- AFP