SEPANG: Thirty-eight Malaysian students of Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Thaha Saifuddin in Jambi, Indonesia who were evacuated following the haze emergency returned to Malaysia today after enduring a long road journey and delayed flight.
They were scheduled to arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) at 12.50pm today but only landed at 5.26pm as their flight was delayed due to aircraft technical problems.
One of the students, Muhammad Aizuddin Yahya, an exco member of the Malaysian Students Association in Indonesia (PKPMI), Jambi branch, said the 38 of them left Jambi by bus at 5pm (6pm in Malaysia) yesterday and arrived at the Malaysian Consulate in Pekanbaru at 4am today.
The final year syariah student said they then left for the Sultan Syarif Kasim Airport to catch a flight scheduled for departure at 10.55 am but which took off only at 3pm.
“We are thankful for arriving home safely,” he said when met outside the klia2 arrival hall here.
Relating his experience in Jambi, Muhammad Aizuddin, 26, said the haze there had persisted for a month.
“However, the most critical moment was last week when the skies turned red as seen on photos which went viral on social media. The area is about 45 minutes from our place of residence. In our area, the skies were yellow,” he said.
According to him, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings then were in the 600-700 range and their university declared a holiday.
“The classes were cancelled starting Thursday last week, before the announcement of (haze) emergency. At that time some students experienced breathing difficulties, fever, cough and diarrhoea. We avoided venturing out of the house and heeded the advice of Education Malaysia Indonesia,” he said.
Another student, Athirah Rasyiqah Rahmad, 22, said the haze in Jambi had white particles which looked like ‘snow’.
“If we stayed outside the house our clothes would turn whitish. So we bought supplies and cooked at home,” Athirah said.
Wisma Putra said on Tuesday that the Malaysian government had decided to evacuate Malaysian students from areas badly hit by haze in Riau and Jambi.
There are now about 300 Malaysian students in Riau and Jambi.
Riau Governor Syamsuar has declared haze emergency for the period from Sept 23 to Oct 31, and it may be extended if the situation does not improve. — Bernama
