MIRI: Sarawak has been badly hit by a wave of thick haze from forest fires raging in Kalimantan.
Almost the entire state, except for Kapit Division, saw visibility drop to dangerous levels yesterday morning.
Northern Sarawak appears to be the worst-hit, with Bintulu recording visibility of only 1km, Limbang 3km and Miri about 4km yesterday morning.
“The Department of Environ-ment (DOE) has carried out checks and found there are no hotspots within northern Sarawak.
“The haze we are seeing here is from foreign sources,” DOE chief for Miri Division Siva Nathiran said when contacted yesterday.
“There are many hotspots in Kalimantan now.” he said.
Yesterday, a dense veil of grey haze lay low over Miri City like a shroud, blotting out the South China Sea. Even the shorelines located just 1km from the city could no longer be seen.
On a normal day, one can see the offshore oil-rigs located 10km away in the South China Sea, from Canada Hill overlooking the city.
A check with the Sarawak Meteorological Department head-quarters in Kuching showed that the entire state was just as hazy yesterday, except for the Kapit Division in central Sarawak.
A weather forecaster said there were almost 200 hotspots detected in Kalimantan.
Two months ago, local fires ravaged more than 3,000 hectares of land in Kuala Baram near the Sarawak-Brunei border, resulting in the Air Pollutant Index (API) reaching a high of 186.
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