A JAPANESE firefighting force sent to help tackle huge blazes in Indonesia is struggling to operate because the smog is too thick to fly helicopters, a spokesman said.
Around 350 members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces arrived last week in Borneo’s hard-hit West Kalimantan province, with three helicopters on hand to assist with firefighting efforts.
Their operation was planned to start last Sunday but had been scuppered by low visibility, the mission’s public affairs officer Takeshi Koga said yesterday, adding that their water-bombing operation eventually started on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s flights “were all cancelled due to poor visibility” as smog reduced the range of sight to less than 3km, he said.
Indonesia regularly battles wildfires during the dry season from July to October.
But the blazes this year have been particularly bad in part due to the El Nino climate phenomenon, expected to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago. — AFP
