Indonesia on Thursday asked several countries including China, Singapore, Russia, and Japan for help to put out fires that have sent choking smoke drifting across the region for weeks.
Indonesia had repeatedly declined offers of outside help to tackle the smoke, which is mostly caused by companies using fire to clear land for palm oil and pulp wood plantations on Sumatra island and its part of Borneo island.
"We have asked for help," President Joko Widodo said in a statement, adding that Indonesia was hoping for at least three aircraft from Singapore and Russia to help douse the fires that often smoulder underground for weeks in peat deposits.