Jambi in Indonesia fell into utter darkness as the sky turned red, giving an eerie look to towns and villages while panicked residents posted videos of the phenomenon on social media.

The haze in Jambi, specifically in the District of Muarojambi, worsened this weekend with the surrounding views looking reddish and dark.

“This is daytime condition after the midday prayer, the sky is reddish and it is like nightfall here in total blackout,” said a resident of the community of Pulau Mentaro Village.

Some people posted videos on messaging networks, videos that made the rounds in Malaysia, showing people riding motorbikes in the dark with a reddish sky ahead of them.

They commented that it was still morning but they had to keep the lights on to be able to see anything around them.

Deaths were also reported due to asphyxiation and funeral rites had to be carried out with the use of generators while residents had to use torchlights during the day.

At the time of writing, news reports state many people are still having difficulty breathing in the heavily affected areas where smog has conquered everything and has even filled the houses.

The anti-fire Task Force team in the field in this particular region is having difficulty getting water to extinguish the fires. They say the canals around the land have dried up.

“We are having trouble finding water sources, so we cannot make any fire suppression efforts, but we will do our best for the community,” said the head of the task force.

On Reddit, some users blamed palm tree planters for the condition in Jambi. They posted a video showing the red sky and saying it represents the fire raging on the horizon.

a strange phenomenon where the sky turns red happened in Indonesia
byu/droid15_ inWTF