KL gets rain but haze stays

KL gets rain but haze stays

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Air quality in Malaysia's capital improved early yesterday after a heavy downpour but still remained at an "unhealthy" level.

The Air Pollution Index eased to 137 from 152 late Wednesday, after surging past the "hazardous" level of 300 earlier this week, Bernama quoted the department of environment as saying.

But Kuala Lumpur's skyline remained obscured by a film of gray.

Nationwide, the haze in most cities also improved, except for a few industrial areas like Nilai in the southern state of Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur's suburb of Gombak and Petaling Jaya, the department said.

Forest fires in neighboring Indonesia, combined with vehicle and industrial pollution in Malaysia, have been blamed for the haze.