Singapore shrouded in fire smog

Air pollution in the city-state reached record levels. Singapore warns that the haze could last for weeks.

06:56 22 June 2013

Smog in Singapore reached record hazardous level on Wednesday, as of time of writing, due to smoke from forest fires in Indonesia. The air quality in the city-state officially reached the alarming level for the first time when the measure of air quality peaked at 321 in the late evening.

The main reason for the smog is fire from the island of Sumatra, Indonesia which are used to clear land for oil palm plantations. The smog first shrouded Singapore over last weekend, ahead of Wednesday, 19th June. Singapore’s official has warned that very unhealthy levels of pollution could last for weeks.

Neighbouring country, Malaysia has closed 200 schools because of the problem.

The crisis seemed to strained diplomatic ties with Indonesia. Singapore's environment minister Vivian Balakrishnan said "no country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and wellbeing".