Haze Delays Flights to C Kalimantan

Muara Teweh, C Kalimantan (Antara) - Thick haze covering North Barito and Murung Raya districts, Central Kalimantan, has delayed flights to and from Bringing Muara Teweh airport on Friday. "A flight from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, is delayed this morning until afternoon due to thick haze," Sidik, an airport official said here on Friday. The delayed flight was a Susi Air plane which served the Balikpapan-Muara Teweh route. Usually, the plane arrives at 7.45 a.m. But the airlines delayed the flight to Muara Teweh because the haze was thick with a vertical visibility of 500 meters only, he said. As the flight from Balikpapan's Sepinggan airport to Muara Teweh was delayed, the next flight from Muara Teweh to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, at 11.40 a.m was also delayed. Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Head for North Barito District Guntur Pardede said the haze that blanketed the area came from other regions. Monitoring carried out on September 4, 2014 did not locate any hotspot in North Barito, he said. (*)