Smoke from Australian bushfires reaches South America, UN says



BUENOS AIRES (dpa)- Smoke from the catastrophic bushfires devastating Australia have drifted 11,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean and reached South America, the UN World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday.
The massive plume of smoke arrived on Monday in Argentina and central Chile, where the cloudless sky appeared grey on Tuesday due to the pollution.




In Argentina, the SNM weather channel said smoke is visible from the southern Patagonia region to farther north, towards Buenos Aires, where the sunset has taken on a deeper red colour.
Authorities said the smoke does not pose a health risk in these countries, unlike in Australia, where the air pollution has reached hazardous levels.
The fires have so far released around 400 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the EU's Copernicus monitoring programme said on Monday.
The bushfires have killed 25 people and millions of animals. Since the biggest fires started in October, around 110,000 square kilometres of land have burned.
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Tuesday, January 7th 2020
dpa
           


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