If you’re in Singapore today, you should probably stay indoors. Air pollution in the city-state has hit levels so dangerous that officials are urging residents to stay inside, and flight controllers at nearby airports are taking extra precautions. In neighboring Malaysia, hundreds of schools were closed for the day. The cause of the haze? Singapore officials blame Indonesia, where local farmers are taking part in a yearly tradition of burning forests in order to prepare land for planting. Indonesia, however, isn’t taking this sitting down. “Singapore shouldn’t be like children, in such a tizzy,” one Indonesian official was reported saying. Indonesians also point out that Singapore and Malaysian companies own many of the Indonesian farms that are burning.
Whatever the cause, the Pollution Standard Index in Singapore sits at 371 on Thursday. The previous high was 226—and anything over 300 is bad for you. See photos of the smoggy capital.
Office workers cover their mouths and noses while others wear masks.
Smoke billows from fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, about 173 miles west of Singapore. After days of enduring the deliberately set wildfires, Singapore officials demanded “definitive” action by Indonesia. The two neighbors are preparing for emergency talks to ease the severe smog.
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A man walks in front of the polluted Singapore city skyline.
Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty
Singapore residents have been warned to stay indoors, but many are braving the outside anyway.
Chris McGrath/Getty
The Singapore Flyer, a famous ferris wheel, is seen covered in a thick haze of smoke.
Smoggy enough for ya? The sun rises over the Singapore skyline.
A taxi driver wears a mask in Singapore's central business district. Despite the warnings of poor air quality this week, the economic powerhouse forged ahead, with many businesses opening as usual.
Visability is low due to the smog. Flight controllers directing flights to and from nearby Changi Airport were advised to be extra vigilant in light of the record pollution.
Further complicating matters, Indonesian officials claim Singapore helped create the situation of record pollution in part because companies from Singapore control many of the palm oil plantations that are now burning.
A worker wears a mask to protect against the haze blanketing the Singapore Central Business District.
Joseph Nair/AP
The port of Singapore is also blanketed by the thick haze; on Thursday forest fires in neighboring Indonesia worsened dramatically.
Joseph Nair/AP
Thursday marked the second day in a row in which the index level of pollution resided in dangerous territory.
Office workers make their way to work wearing masks in an attempt to filter out harmful pollution.
Early-morning sun tries to penetrate the thick layer of smog; Singapore hasn’t seen such high levels of harmful pollution in nearly 16 years.
Cars travel on an expressway in Singapore as buildings in the background are obscured by haze.
For now Singaporeans continue about thier lives wearing masks for protection.
