Smoke from Australian bushfires reaches South America

MONTEVIDEO - Smoke from Australia's bushfires has reached Uruguay, darkening the sky of the South American country with a "grayish veil," the Uruguayan Meteorological Institute (Inumet) said Tuesday.

"Since Monday afternoon, Jan 6, we can see a greyish veil over Uruguay's skies and redder sunrises/sunsets," the Inumet said in a statement.

The presence of "small suspended particles" at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters is a result of the "smoke generated by the large fires in Australia," the agency said.

Inumet's technical manager Lucia Chiponelli told Uruguayan media that the suspended particles make the atmosphere "dirtier."

However, there is no risk to human health or air traffic due to the high altitude of the particles, which wafted some 13,000 km over Pacific Ocean before reaching South America, she said.

Australia is currently enduring one of the worst bushfire crises in its history, with at least 25 people having been killed since September.