KUCHING: The air quality in southern Sarawak is deteriorating as forest fires rage on in the state.
Mukah is experiencing a wildfire that is spreading within a forest in the central Sarawak district.
“Our teams are having difficulties reaching the locations as the fires are burning (deep) inside the forest.
“There are no roads to access these locations,” said the Fire and Rescue Department.
The Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board said the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in the Lundu district yesterday increased to 123, which is beyond the unhealthy mark of 100.
Lundu is about 90km from state capital Kuching, which also showed an unhealthy reading of 116.
Located at the southernmost tip of Sarawak, it shares a land border with Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Yesterday evening, the Sri Aman, Samarahan and Mukah districts recorded API readings of 97, 92 and 91 respectively.
The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre showed satellite images of winds sweeping into the state from Kalimantan.
Earlier this week, Sarawak officially declared a red alert for haze and forest fires.
