An official in Riau province, one of the main sources of the fires, said 72 plantation firms based there were being investigated over alleged illegal slash-and-burn activities after calls for tough action against the culprits.

"We have formed ten teams and they are investigating whether the fires were acts of slash-and-burn or not," environmental impact agency chief Chairul Zainal told AFP, declining to give details of the companies.

Indonesia's forestry ministry earlier this week said eight out of 10 companies accused of burning land for cultivation were Malaysian-owned, but all 18 Malaysian companies operating in Indonesia denied responsibility.

The hazardous haze had meanwhile been washed away, Sarman from a meteorology office in Riau province said.

"The sky is clear now, with visibility at around eight kilometers (five miles) at 11:00 am," he told AFP, adding that rain had fallen for three days.

Rain late Wednesday also helped clear Labuhan Batu, a district in North Sumatra province bordering Riau and another source of the haze, Sergeant Master Damanik of the police headquarters said.

"The haze was still there yesterday (Wednesday) but because of the rain last night, the sky is quite clear this morning," he told AFP.

In Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, rains have fallen since Tuesday and gradually cleared the sky there too, a local meteorology office worker who gave his name as Wahyu said.

Hundreds of fires on Sumatra island last week smothered the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and surrounding districts as well as the west coast where pollution reached hazardous levels.

Shifting winds brought relief to those areas over the weekend but pushed the problem north to regions along the Malaysia-Thailand border and onto the Thai resort island of Phuket.

Officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Malaysia Wednesday called for the group's members to fight the fires because drier weather conditions with below average rainfall was expected until October in parts of Sumatra and Borneo island, where fires are also burning.

In 1997 and 1998 choking haze caused mainly by Indonesian forest fires enveloped parts of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, for months.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express