Thick haze blamed for boat collision off Belawan
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
The haze from forest fires, which is blanketing several parts of North Sumatra, has claimed a victim in the province's seaport of Belawan.
A cargo boat carrying containers from Singapore lost its way in Medan and ran aground on the Belawan coast after hitting a dredger, the Flores, amid the thick haze covering the city.
No casualties were reported after the accident took place on Tuesday evening. However, the propeller of the cargo boat, the KM Curug Mas, suffered serious damage.
The collision disrupted sea traffic along the Belawan coast before the ill-fated cargo vessel was towed away some two hours later.
S. Manik, a human relations officer at state-owned port management firm PT Pelindo, based in Belawan, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that traffic was back to normal there.
He confirmed the accident occurred when sea visibility in the Malaka Strait was reduced to about 2,000 meters due to the haze plaguing Medan and its surrounding districts.
A 2,000-meter range of visibility should not affect sea traffic if the speed of a boat is about 20 kilometers per hour or six knots, Manik added.
Firman, the head of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency based at Medan's Polonia Airport, said visibility in the Malaka Strait would likely worsen over the next several days as winds from eastern areas continued to move in slowly, bringing haze from Malaysia to the waters off the strait and Medan.
He said many hot spots, which were found in southern and central parts of Malaysia, had spread to almost all parts of the neighboring country.
The situation could become a serious problem with thick smoke choking the Malaka Strait, Medan and its surrounding districts, he added.
He said that based on satellite monitoring, the number of hot spots was down to 317 from 360 in the regencies of Asahan and Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra, following a recent rainfall in those areas.
Firman further said the haze had also sharply reduced visibility at Polonia Airport to only 800 meters on Tuesday, but that it improved slightly to 1,000 meters and 2,000 meters on Wednesday afternoon.
On Monday, visibility there dropped to 1,500 meters, when it normally is between 7,000 meters and 10,000 meters.
The head of the Polonia Airport Risman Nuryadin said on Wednesday, however, that planes flying over the city had so far reported everything was normal.
"There have not been any flight delays despite the reduced visibility," he told the Post.