Team probing haze threatened with death

Dozens of Indonesian men, suspected of being hired by an palm oil plantation company, threatened to kill environmental investigators checking on fires on Sumatra Island, the environment ministry said.

The incident illustrates the difficulties Indonesia faces tackling the illegal burning of vegetation to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations that causes clouds of smoke every dry season, which at times blanket the region, raising fears for public health and air travel.

The ministry said a group of up to 100 men detained seven investigators for about 12 hours during the weekend and threatened to burn them alive and dump their bodies in a river at a palm oil plantation in Rokan Hulu, Riau province.