Pekanbaru, Riau, (Antarariau.com) - The forest, plantation and peat-soil fires razing in Riau Province over the past two months, have claimed three lives.
The first victim, an asthma patient from Pelalawan district, was chocked to death due to the smog haze coming from the fires, according to information from the Riau Haze Disaster Mitigation Task Force on Tuesday.
The second victim, identified as Muhammad Adli, 63, died after falling into burning peat-soil, Meranti Islands Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Zahwani Pandra Arsyad pointed out.
His body with serious burn wounds in the back was found in Sungai Gayung Kiri village, Rangsang sub-district, on March 8.
The third victim a Muslim employee of PT Surya Dumia Agrindo, died while trying to help put out fires in Bengkalis district on March 15. He was killed when a tree fell on him.
Chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Syamsul Maarif had earlier stated that the social affairs ministry will provide financial compensation to the families of the victims.
Thousands of people affected by haze were provided with free medical services, he remarked.
The number of people whose health has been affected by haze coming from forest fires in Riau province, increased to 55.4 thousand on March 13 from 43.8 thousand on March 10.
"There was an increase of 5,831 people from the number on the previous day (Wednesday, Mar. 12)," Head of the Riau Health Office Zainal Arifin observed last week.
The largest number or 48,390 people suffered from respiratory infection; 11,798 of the affected people were residents of Pekanbaru, 8,033 residents of Rokan Hilir, and 6,136 of Bengkalis district, he revealed.
Some 2,481 people in Riau suffered from skin irritation. The number of people suffering from asthma in Riau was 1,872. At least 1,768 people suffered from eye irritation. Some 911 people suffered from pneumonia.
Riau Forest Fires Claim Three Lives
