PALANGKARAYA: First, it was thick, white smog, causing coughs and sore throats. Then, it turned into a thick, acrid yellow, casting an apocalyptic glow over Palangkaraya, central Kalimantan, leaving many dead and forcing people to breathe from oxygen tanks.
Thousands are now fleeing the area to escape the toxic air in the city of 240,000 that has been engulfed in poisonous darkness by smoke from peat land set alight to clear land for palm oil plantations.
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