Dozens hospitalised as Indonesia haze spreads

YOUNG children lie in hospital in Aceh province, Indonesia, as thick smoke caused by forest fires forces dozens of people to be treated for lung infections. In the past week, about 35 hotspots – concentrations of fires – have destroyed 70 hectares of forests and other land in Aceh, the national disaster agency said. “The land fires have been caused by people who clear their land by the traditional slash and burn method, so the fire spreads,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purno Nugroho said. Authorities are trying to put out the blazes and have warned of an escalating threat of forest fires with the dry season expected to continue for several months. The haze is an annual problem in Indonesia caused by fires set in forest and on carbon-rich peatland in Indonesia to clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations. The blazes occur mainly on Indonesia’s Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, with monsoon winds typically blowing the haze over nearby Singapore and Malaysia.