Thick smoke from wildfires in Indonesia turned the skies over Palangkaraya a striking yellow and orange on Thursday 15 October, reducing visibility to just a few dozen metres. Aerial footage shows the capital of Central Kalimantan province almost disappearing beneath the haze, with the Talawang roundabout and a nearby statue barely visible.
Hundreds of kilometres away, Singapore was also blanketed in smoke, leaving its iconic Marina Bay Sands complex almost indistinguishable against the skyline. Roads, bridges and passing vehicles were shrouded in the dense haze. The pollution comes from fires that have been burning across Indonesia for months, sending vast clouds of smoke beyond the country’s borders.
The haze has also spread to Malaysia, the Philippines and East Timor, raising concerns about air quality across Southeast Asia. In East Timor, authorities have ordered schools to close for three days because of the smoke. The scenes in Palangkaraya and Singapore illustrate the scale of a regional pollution crisis that continues to affect daily life far beyond the areas directly threatened by the fires.