Haze: Sarikei hits 303, bringing Sarawak's hazardous API areas to five

 

Sarikei is the latest area in Sarawak to record a hazardous Air Pollutant Index (API) reading, bringing the number of areas in the state in the category to five as of 10.45pm today. SCREENSHOT FROM DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT WEBSITE

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarikei is the latest area in Sarawak to record a hazardous Air Pollutant Index (API) reading, bringing the number of areas in the state in the category to five as of 10.45pm today.

According to the Department of Environment's Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS), Sarikei recorded an API reading of 303.

Serian recorded the highest API reading at 429, followed by Kuching at 385, Samarahan at 355 and Sri Aman at 342.

Sibu, Mukah and Samalaju were in the "very unhealthy" category, with readings of 266, 218 and 203 respectively.

Nine other stations recorded unhealthy readings, including Bintulu (189), ILP Miri (179), Miri (179), Kapit (171) and Limbang (162) in Sarawak.

Outside Sarawak, the stations recording unhealthy readings were Labuan (166), Kota Kinabalu (157), Kimanis (153), Keningau (152), Sungai Petani (151), Seberang Perai (131) and Seberang Jaya (112)

Meanwhile, 45 monitoring stations recorded moderate air quality, while Langkawi recorded the country's only "good" API reading at 45.

An API reading of between zero and 50 is categorised as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, 201 to 300 as very unhealthy, and above 300 as hazardous. - NST