A 51-year-old housewife in Muar passed away yesterday after allegedly fainting at home do to the ‘hazardous’ level of haze.

According to China Press , preliminary inspection by the doctor confirmed that Lai Cai Ling (direct translation from her Chinese name) had inhaled too much haze.

NONE This reportedly led to lung infection and pleural effusion, which were compounded by complication from diabetes.

She was then hit by a stroke and declared brain dead.

A state of emergency was declared in Muar on Sunday when its Air Pollutant Index (API) reading reached more than 750 in the morning.

Lai, an asthma and diabetes patient, fainted at home at 12.40am that day after suffering an asthma attack.

She was rushed to the hospital immediately but remained in a coma until declared dead at 4.30am yesterday.

Hospital denies cause of death

Her family told the Chinese daily that although the post-mortem report will only be out today, they believed her death was due to the haze, which triggered the fatal asthma attack.

However, Johor health department stressed that the death has nothing to do with haze.

State health department director Dr Mohd Khairy Yaakub told China Press that so far there has been no deaths caused by haze in the state.

He said he has checked with Muar hospital and the hospital has denied the allegation.

“Because there were people who complained that their family passed away due to haze, the department may conduct further investigation into the matter, but we hope the family will take the initiative to contact the relevant authorities,”  he was quoted as saying.

DOE Air Pollutant Index - check API readings nationwide.