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Pilgrims diverted as haze clouds Indonesia's Sumatra island
Smoke from ground fires is still clouding the skies of Indonesia's North Sumatra province, causing a planeload of returning pilgrims to be diverted.
The meteorology office in the provincial capital Medan says 126 hotspots, indicating burning fires, were detected in the province on Wednesday.
It says the haze had prevented a flight carrying pilgrims returning from the annual hajj (hahj) to Mecca in Saudi Arabia from landing at Medan's Polonia airport.
The dense smoke haze which blanketed much of Southeast Asia for months in 1997 and 1998 was blamed on widespread land clearing by fire, mainly in Indonesia.
15/03/2002 11:05:59 | ABC Radio Australia News
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