Thailand to help RI quash forest fires
Thailand to help RI quash forest fires
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand will send six experts to Indonesia next week to evaluate what help can be given to fight the raging forest fires that have left much of Southeast Asia engulfed in smog, reports said yesterday.
Thinnakorn Kannasutra, deputy foreign ministry spokesman said the experts from the Thai ministry of agriculture and forestry would fly to Indonesia on Tuesday and visit Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Bangkok Post reported.
Thailand has said it is willing to provide aeroplanes and other assistance to fight the forest fires, which rage on although the poisonous smog is reported to be lifting across the region.
Southern Thai provinces have been affected by the haze, although not to the extent of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Earlier this week, deputy foreign minister Pitak Intarawiriyanon announced Thailand was ready to send water bombers, fire-fighting teams and medical assistance, the Nation daily reported.
Army chief General Chettha Thanajaro also said Thailand was coordinating with Indonesia to send Chinouk helicopters to help the fire-fighting efforts.
The six experts visiting Indonesia next week will be headed by the director-general of the Thai forestry department and would be briefed by Indonesian officials, Thinnakorn said.
Meanwhile Singapore has instituted safety measures to cope with reduced visibility in its port and surrounding waters due to the smoky haze in the region, maritime officials said yesterday.
"The present haze situation has reduced the state of visibility in the Singapore Strait and port waters," the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said in a statement.
It said that over the past month or so there had been occasions when visibility was cut down from the normal five nautical miles to about one-and-a-half miles.
"However, port operations have not been significantly affected," it said.
Singapore has one of the world's busiest ports and is located off the congested Straits of Malacca, where 29 Indian nationals were feared killed when a merchant vessel collided with an oil tanker last month. Not all the bodies have been recovered.
The MPA said that since August, a port marine notice has warned shipmasters of the haze and reduced visibility in the Singapore area, and news of the conditions is being issued every half hour by radio to vessels.
Air pollution levels in Singapore were within healthy levels yesterday, according to hourly official bulletins, but views of the port was partly obscured by haze.