Moscow: A deep layer of smog from wildfires around Moscow hung over the Russian capital Saturday, prompting many city residents to wear masks and causing dozens of flight delays and diversions at the city's airports.
The thick haze affected Moscow for a second straight day as southeastern winds blew smoke from the areas worst affected by peat bog and forest fires. Weather experts said the winds are unlikely to change over the next few days.
The concentration of airborne pollutants such as carbon monoxide has further intensified and is at more than six times normal levels, according to city health officials - the worst seen to date in Moscow. The smog has seeped into buildings and the city's subway system.
"I can't bear it any more," said Anna Kozyreva, 25. "My parents have left the city. All I want to is breathe normally, but my job doesn't allow me to leave."
"The smoke is everywhere - at home, in shopping malls, on the subway," added Roman Morozov, a 29-year old architect.
Visibility was down to a few hundred meters, and about a dozen flights bound for Moscow's Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports were diverted to other airports. Some 40 of other flights bound for Domodevo on Saturday were delayed pending an improvement in visibility, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Nearly 600 separate blazes were burning nationwide Saturday, mainly across western Russia, according to the Emergencies Ministry, which said that the area affected had increased over the past 24 hours.
Hundreds of forest and peat bog fires have ignited amid the country's most intense heat wave in 130 years of record-keeping.
