Indonesia fights blazes

Fighting the haze : A helicopter dumping water on a burning forest at north Indralaya village in Ogan Ilir Regency, Sumatra. — Reuters

JAKARTA: Helicopters water bombed raging forest fires that have cloaked parts of Indonesia in thick haze and pushed air quality to unhealthy levels in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

Fourteen helicopters were dumping water on blazes on western Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo island and “cloud-seeding”, which involves using chemicals to induce rain, the country’s disaster agency said yesterday.