Smoke disrupts Jambi traffic

JAMBI, Jambi: Smoke coming from the burning of wood industry waste has disrupted water and air traffic in Jambi city and its surrounding areas.

Visibility on the Batanghari river has been cut down to 200 or 300 meters, when ideally a ship sailing along the river needs a minimum of 1,000 meters, Jambi Port Chief Zulretmika said, reported the Antara news agency.

All ships passing Batanghari have been told to reduce their speed from nine to six miles per hour.

Meanwhile, an official at the Sultan Taha airport control tower said that the thick smoke has also caused frequent cancellations of flights coming to and departing from Jambi.

He said very often visibility around Jambi's airport is cut down to 300 to 400 meters, making it hazardous for a Fokker 20 plane to land or take off from the airport. Ideally, a plane needs a minimum visibility of 1 kilometer.

To remedy this, the airport has had to turn on the flight navigation assistance system to guide the planes. (emb)