Air quality drops in Malaysia as annual haze season looms

Air quality drops in Malaysia as annual haze season looms
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Air quality and visibility declined in parts of Malaysia on Tuesday due to smoke blowing in from fires in neighboring Indonesia, officials said, signaling the possible return of a seasonal smog.
Malaysia is often hit by hazy pollution during the midyear dry season when farmers - mainly on Indonesia's Sumatra island and Kalimantan province- set illegal brush fires to clear land for planting.
Satellite images showed nearly 270 "hot spots," indicating large peat fires, most of them on Sumatra, late Monday, the Meteorological Services Division said Tuesday.
Visibility was as low as two kilometers Tuesday in some northern districts of peninsular Malaysia, which is separated from Sumatra by a narrow strait, the division reported. The usual range is at least 10 kilometers.
The Department of Environment said Tuesday that air quality in 41 out of 51 monitoring stations across the country has so far fallen from "good" to "moderate" in recent days.
One district in northern Penang state recorded an air pollutant index reading of 98 on Tuesday morning, the department reported. (***)