Farmers fires choke Buenos Aires

Fires said to have been started by farmers sent clouds of smoke across Argentina’s capital, disrupting air and road travel and choking residents.

Some 270 square miles have burned in recent days, according to interior minister Florencio Randazzo.

“We are facing a disaster caused by the hand of man,” he said yesterday. “Burning pastures is a crime.”

Officials say farmers set the blazes to cheaply clear scrub from grazing land.

President Cristina Fernandez urged authorities to prosecute offenders.

“These fires are the result of two aspects of human nature: irresponsibility and irrationality,” she said.

The smoke forced air traffic controllers to cancel landings at airports in Buenos Aires and led police to close some major roads. Some bus routes were scrapped for lack of visibility.

Authorities reported a steep increase in the number of people seeking attention at hospitals with eye problems.

By yesterday afternoon, the smoke drifted across the River Plate into neighbouring Uruguay, where haze hung over the capital of Montevideo, riverside tourist town Colonia and beach resort Punta del Este.