More than 200 school closed in Malaysia due to haze

More than 200 schools in Malaysia's state of Johor were closed as the haze that hits the country has reached the hazardous level, it is reported here Thursday.

Johor director of education Mohd Nor A Ghani said the state department decided to order the closure of 211 schools in Muar district of the state as the Air Pollutant Index (API) reached the hazardous level.

The air pollution level is categorized as hazardous when the reading is 301 or more; very unhealthy at 201 to 300; unhealthy at 101 to 200; moderate at 51 to 100 and good at zero to 50.

Mohd Nor said the closure of the schools in Muar would affect 76,940 students.

The Department of Environment of Malaysia reported that Muar was the worst affected by the haze, with the API reading at 383 at 11 a.m, up from 337 at 7 a.m. local time.

Meanwhile, an airport official told reporters that flights would continue as usual at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), as the near-annual haze season gets worse in parts of Malaysia.

Malaysia Airports senior general manager Azmi Murad said flight frequencies have so far not been affected by the pollution, which has been blamed on plantation companies in Indonesia's Sumatra practicing slash and burn methods to clear farming land.