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Fire pollution killed 3,560 people in Indonesia in September
AFP, Jakarta
Published: 30 Oct 2026, 10:45 AM
Indonesian soldiers, tasked with fighting forest and land fires, celebrate as it rains in Banjar Baru, South Kalimantan province on October 28, 2026, following months of forest and land fires. Photo: AFP
Air pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago in September alone, according to a scientific study.
The same month, about 57.8 million people were inhaling unhealthy to hazardous air, said the report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think tank.
"Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate," said a CREA statement.
The study estimated the number of deaths brought about by short-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, which are deaths occurring within days of exposure.
Most occurred on Indonesia's part of Borneo island as well as on Java and Sumatra islands and the country's east.
The researchers also looked at non-fire pollution from urban and industrial emissions, and found it had caused a further 1,750 deaths in September for a total of 5,310 in the country of around 278 million people.