Smoke haze hangs over S'pore as Indonesian fires rage

SINGAPORE, Oct 3 (Reuters) Forest fires in Indonesia have sent Singapore's Pollutants Standards Index (PSI) to the highest level this year, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said today.

South-southwesterly winds have blown smoke from fires in central and south Sumatra to Singapore, obscuring sunlight and reducing temperatures and visibility, the NEA said on its Web site (http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/).

The NEA said the city-state's PSI level reached 73 yesterday, although rain could bring some relief. A PSI reading between zero and 50 is considered ''healthy'', 51-100 ''moderate'' and 101-200 ''unhealthy''.

Each year, uncontrolled slash-and-burn practices by farmers, plantation owners and loggers on the Indonesian islands sends a smoky haze to Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand.

''Villagers open land by burning. They consider that after burning, the land will be fertile,'' said Parigan Syahrin, head of the mines, energy, and environment office in Banyuasin regency in South Sumatra.

The NEA said satellite pictures showed 97 hotspots and dense smoke haze in Sumatra, an Indonesian island west of Singapore.

''The current dry weather conditions in southern parts of Sumatra are expected to persist until mid-October,'' the NEA said.

Purwasto, a senior official in Indonesia's Environment Ministry, told Reuters that the PSI reading was ''more than 100'' in the worst-hit parts of the country.

''It is dangerous for human health,'' said Purwasto, who like many Indonesians uses one name.

Heavy haze in the central Sumatran province of Jambi led to the cancellation of some domestic flights, an airport official said.

''The visibility is 500 metres,'' said Olan Simanjuntak, a spokesman for Sultan Thaha airport in Jambi. ''We are very irritated (by the haze). Officials here are using masks.'' The haze has also begun to envelop Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, obscuring hills surrounding the city. But residents said it was nowhere near as bad as last year's choking smog.

The Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah were the worst affected on Tuesday. In one area of Sarawak, which has been blanketed by heavy smog for weeks, the air-pollution index approached ''very unhealthy'' levels at the daily 0300 GMT (0830 hrs) reading.

Local media said authorities plan to seed clouds over Sarawak in an effort to clear the haze, but have not said when the operations will begin.

REUTERS AKJ DS1240