Choking haze from forest and ground fires blanketed the southern parts of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, disrupting flight schedules in one of the region's towns, officials said. In the town of Jambi, thin vertical visibility around the airport delayed the departure of two domestic flights, said an airport official who identified herself only as Ida.
She said the haze had forced another domestic flight to land at Palembang airport in nearby South Sumatra province.
"The plane tried six times to land here but it eventually was re-routed to Palembang. But so far, we are still in operation," Ida said.
Airport chief Basuki Mardianto, in a report on ElShinta radio, described Saturday's haze as the worst this week and warned the airport could close if conditions deteriorated.
Vertical visibility in Jambi at 0200 GMT was only 300 meters (990 feet), said Remus Tobing, a scientist at Jambi's meterological agency.
Tobing said Jambi's environmental impact agency registered Saturday's air pollution index at an unhealthy level but had provided no figures.
"The core problem here remains the burning of forests and ground clearing," he told AFP.
He said satellites had Friday recorded 40 hot spots or burning areas in four districts surrounding Jambi.
Jambi police said 1,000 officers were helping state forest firemen extinguish the hotspots.
In the neighbouring town of Pekanbaru in Riau province, haze continued to shroud parts of the city but had not disturbed flights there, said airport chief Alexius Kiswoyo.
Visibility at 0400 GMT was measured at 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles).
"There is still some smoke blanketing the city. The meteorological agency predicted that today's (Saturday) weather should improve but the people who carry out forest and ground burning are unpredictable and ignorant," Kiswoyo said.
Burning in Indonesia and some parts of Malaysia to clear land for crops causes an annual haze that afflicts Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as Indonesia.
Malaysia on Thursday urged Indonesia to crack down on forest fires and warned that the choking pollution was hurting economies and deterring tourists.
Singapore and Thailand have also been affected in recent years.
Malaysia's worst-affected region so far this year is in Sarawak where Kuching had an unhealthily high reading of 157 last week.
The Indonesian government has outlawed land clearing by fire but weak enforcement means the ban is largely ignored.
