- Title: INDONESIA-HAZE/AUSTRALIA Australia to send plane to fight Indonesia fires
- Date: 11th October 2015
- Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (OCTOBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF INDONESIA'S NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY (BNPB) AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO INDONESIA, PAUL GRIGSON AND SPOKESPERSON OF BNPB SUTOPO PURWO NUGROHO STANDING IN NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO INDONESIA, PAUL GRIGSON SAYING: "The Indonesian request was for a 10,000 litres aircraft, we sent a bigger plane. This is a very big plane as I said, able to drop 15,000 litres in a few seconds this was the most important element from Indonesia's request to us." GRIGSON AND NUGROHO STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) SPOKESPERSON OF INDONESIA'S NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY, SUTOPO PURWO NUGROHO SAYING: "BNPB is looking into renting more helicopters and new aircrafts (for the operation). Discussions with the Russian government are still ongoing, mainly we hope they will send a Beriev, or BE-200, aircraft that has huge capacity and the BE-200 flight can scoop water up, like this bombardier jet, and can carry out water bombing." GRIGSON AND NUGROHO WALKING TOWARDS A SCREEN SHOWING INDONESIA MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF HOTSPOTS VARIOUS OF GRIGSON AND NUGROHO LOOKING AT SCREEN
- Embargoed: 26th October 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Indonesia
- Country: Indonesia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1HMG3B82NKFY6SCJB0NNR1QLL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART AUDIO AS INCOMING
Australia will send a military aircraft, capable of scopping up 15,000 litres of water, to help Indonesia fight forest fires on Sunday (October 4), the Australian ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation said.
Speaking during a news conference at the headquarters of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Ambassador Paul Grigson confirmed a larger plane than originally requested by Indonesia would be sent.
"The Indonesian request was for a 10,000 litres aircraft, we sent a bigger plane. This is a very big plane as I said, able to drop 15,000 litres in a few seconds this was the most important element from Indonesia's request to us," he said.
Australia is the third country following Singapore and Malaysia to send an aircraft to the nation, after it asked for help to put out the fires that have caused choking smoke to drift across parts of the region.
The Australian aircraft, Hercules L100, is expected to arrive in Indonesia's Palembang on Sumatra island early next week, BNPB spokesperson, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
Seven helicopters and four aircrafts from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are currently operating to extinguish fires in the south Sumatra province, one of the worst affected areas by the slash-and-burn land clearing practise, Nugroho said.
Nugroho added Indonesia was looking to rent more aircraft.
"BNPB is looking into renting more helicopters and new aircrafts (for the operation). Discussions with the Russian government are still ongoing, mainly we hope they will send a Beriev, or BE-200, aircraft that has huge capacity and the BE-200 flight can scoop water up, like this bombardier jet, and can carry out water bombing," Nugroho said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo set a target of two weeks for authorities to contain the forest fires during a field visit to Sumatra on Friday (October 9).
The smoke has pushed up pollution to dangerous levels across parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand, disrupted flights and closed schools on bad days. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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