MELAKA: For the past week, Sungai Air Batu in Kampung Paya Rumput Jaya, Sungai Udang, has turned black and foul-smelling, believed to be due to leachate discharge from a landfill.

The pollution has persisted since 2023, causing distress to villagers, including smallholders and padi farmers. Resident Syukur Azzaki Abdul Talib, 47, said numerous complaints had been lodged with the authorities, but the issue remained unresolved.

"This pollution has gone on day after day, month after month, year after year.

"We've reported everything, but it keeps happening due to seepage from the landfill. "The black water causes a stench in the entire village, not just homes by the riverbank, because the water flows into the main river.

"There used to be fish in the river, but now there's no life in the thick, black water. No one dares go into it," he said during a site visit.

Paya Rumput Hilir Village Development and Security Committee (JPKK) chairman Mohamad Abdul Rahman said the pollution had affected farmers and padi growers.

"I am dissatisfied with the leachate from the Sungai Udang landfill flowing into Sungai Air Batu and down to the Sungai Lereh estuary.

"It's unacceptable. We've complained for years. Sometimes action is taken, sometimes not, and yet they continue discharging wastewater without informing JPKKs.

"In my area, vegetable farmers are the worst affected. "They can't water their crops because the water is black and contains chemicals that cause plants to die," he said.

Mohamad, who manages a 12ha padi field, said the contamination was affecting his yield.

"I hope the landfill operator and the state government will monitor the situation and ensure the excess retention ponds can contain the leachate before it enters Sungai Air Batu.

"I also hope Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security Committee chairman Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh will raise this issue at the next executive councillor meeting."

Crop farmer Mohd Razali Zakaria, 44, said he had suffered losses after his crops were damaged by the polluted river water.

"I didn't get any harvest from my corn. The plants were damaged, and the fruit turned rotten after being watered with the black, foamy water.

"I planted 1,000 corn stalks and nearly every plant had problems.

"Even when I sprayed pesticides using the contaminated water, the pests didn't die. Instead, fruit flies started attacking the crops."

He said he had invested around RM10,000 in the farm.

BARCELONA: Spanish authorities lifted lockdown measures for thousands of villagers in the northeastern Catalonia region on Wednesday as firefighters began taming a forest fire raging for a third day.

The blaze that started on Monday has burned more than 3,300 hectares (8,154 acres) in Tarragona province, with the protected Els Ports natural park making up around one-third of the affected area, Catalan countryside rangers said.

A stay-at-home order for around 18,000 people decreed on Tuesday was lifted except for the municipality of Pauls, where residents were allowed to go outside but not leave the locality, the Catalan civil protection authority announced on X.

Catalonia’s fire service said it had “stabilised” the blaze but continued to work with ground units, helicopters and aeroplanes on several hotspots, including cliffs and areas that are hard to access.

Spain recently sweltered through a heatwave that parched the land, while national weather agency AEMET said last month that it was the country’s hottest June on record.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System, around 500 fires destroyed 300,000 hectares in Spain in 2022, a record for the continent.

Around 21,000 hectares have burned so far this year. – AFP

NEW DELHI, 9 Julai: Sekurang-kurangnya 10 orang maut selepas kenderaan terjunam ke dalam sungai apabila sebuah jambatan runtuh di negeri Gujarat, barat India, pada Rabu.

Jambatan Gambhira di Sungai Mahi itu menghubungkan daerah Vadodara dan Anand.

Beberapa trak dan kereta terjunam ke dalam sungai apabila sebahagian daripada jambatan berusia empat dekad itu runtuh.

Sepuluh orang terkorban dalam kejadian itu, manakala ramai lagi berjaya diselamatkan dari sungai, menurut laporan media tempatan. -TVS

SEOUL: More than a thousand people have been affected by heat-related illnesses in South Korea, officials said Wednesday, as the country recorded its highest early July temperature since records began.

A heatwave warning was in place and the Seoul city government on Wednesday said the extreme temperatures were a “disaster” that posed a threat to people’s lives.

More than 1,200 people in South Korea have suffered heat-related illnesses since May 15, with eight deaths reported, according to official data released Wednesday.

The figures mark a sharp rise from the same period last year, when 486 cases and three deaths were recorded, the data showed. On Tuesday alone, 238 people went to the emergency room nationwide after suffering heat-related conditions, the data indicated.

Seoul said it would “prioritise preventing casualties through tougher inspections and enhanced measures”.

According to the national weather agency, Tuesday hit 37.8 degrees Celsius, marking the hottest early July day — defined as July 1 to 10 — in the South Korean capital since comprehensive records began 117 years ago.

South Korea experienced last year its highest average summertime temperature since such records began half a century ago -- nearly two degrees higher than the historic average, according to the weather agency.

Earlier this year, the South was hit by the country’s deadliest wildfires in history, which were fanned by high winds and ultra-dry conditions.

The country has also been grappling with the invasion of a type of March fly nicknamed “lovebug” -- which leave behind piles of rotting black remains and a foul stench after they quickly die -- that experts say highlights worsening climate change.

Young climate activists scored a resounding victory last year when South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled that much of the country’s climate goals were unconstitutional, because they did not go far enough to protect young people’s futures.

The government was forced to revise its climate targets.

In Europe, scientists said Wednesday human-caused climate change made recent European heatwaves up to 4C hotter in many cities, pushing temperatures into deadly territory for thousands of vulnerable people. – AFP