Thick Smoke Causes Multi-Vehicle Crash in Barito Kuala, Delays Four Palembang Flights

Four vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction accident on Jalan Gubernur Syarkawi in Barito Kuala, South Kalimantan, after dense smoke blanketed the road and cut visibility, according to Kompas TV. Surveillance cameras captured the sequence, in which one vehicle struck a truck from behind and another vehicle shortly afterward hit the truck in front of it at the same location. The collision involved two minibuses and two trucks in total. No one was killed in the incident.

The same smoke disrupted air travel across the region. Four flights departing from and arriving at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang, South Sumatra, were postponed because visibility at the airport did not exceed 500 meters. Kompas TV reported that flight disruptions linked to forest and land fire haze in Palembang have been increasing over the past week.

Kompas TV tagged its report with the term 'karhutla' — Indonesia's shorthand for forest and land fires — alongside Palembang and Palangkaraya, pointing to the source of the haze affecting both ground traffic in South Kalimantan and aviation in South Sumatra.

The report did not specify when the postponed flights would be cleared to depart or how many passengers were affected. It also did not say whether anyone was injured in the Barito Kuala collision, which the outlet described as having caused no loss of life.

Ground conditions in Barito Kuala and airport conditions in Palembang remain the immediate focus, with visibility the key factor in both the road crash and the flight delays. Kompas TV said the disruption to Palembang flights has been worsening over the past seven days.