KOTA KINABALU: Heavy rains failed to ease the haze over Sabah as southwesterly winds continued to blow in smog from neighbouring Kalimantan and southern Sumatra.

Air quality in Tawau, on Sabah’s border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan, remained at unhealthy levels yesterday with the air pollutant index reading 133.

However, moderate API readings were recorded in Keningau (80), Kota Kinabalu (78), Sandakan (70) and Labuan (88).

According to the Department of Environment here, most parts of Sabah experienced heavy rain yesterday morning but the current southwesterly wind continued to blow in thick smoke generated by 200 hotspots in Indonesia.

State Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Karim Bujang feared that if the haze persisted it might affect tourism.

“This problem is beyond our control. It is being blown into Sabah and Sarawak from Indonesia,” he said.

He expressed hope that the inter-government meetings could come up with ways to resolve the problem.

He also appealed to people not to aggravate the problem by carrying out open burning.