One killed in accident as fog envelops many areas in region

Chandigarh, Dec 24 (UNI) One person was killed and 12 others were injured in a pile-up accident in Haryana as a dense fog enveloped many areas in the region, affecting road and rail traffic.

The fog reduced the visibility considerably forcing vehicular traffic to move at snail's pace with headlights on in the morning.

The accident was caused due to thick fog early this morning near Ratangarh village on the GT Road near Shahabad about 25 km from Kurukshetra in Haryana.

Major Ielo Rao was travelling in his car from Gurgaon to Ambala Cantt when his car was hit by another vehicle causing fatal injuries, police said here today, acording to a report from Kurukshetra.

Most of the drivers involved in the accident were unable to see due to poor visibility beacuse of the fog.

Many express and other trains were running behind their scheduled time and reached Ambala Cantonment station late by an hour to 20 hours, a report from Ambala said.

Jamnagar to Amritsar express train was late by 20 hours while Amarpali Express reached 10 hours late. Howrah Express to Amritsar was late by 7 hours, Muri express by about 5 hours, and Jalandhar-Delhi Express, Malwa Express and Ludhiana Passenger were delayed by 1 to 2 hours.

Chandigarh, Adampur, Bhatinda, Hindon, Sarsawa, Leh and Palam in Delhi remained shrouded in fog while Amritsar and Udhampur experienced mist and Srinagar, Jammu and Pathankot reported haze.

In Punjab, people groaned under biting cold at Amritsar recording the minimum temperature at 2.2 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. The holy city turned out to be the coldest place in the plains.

The minimum temperatures hovered one degrees each below normal at Ludhiana and Patiala, respectively recording 4.5 degrees Celsius and 6.0 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, the mercury also stayed low at Ambala and Karnal, respectively recording 4.1 degrees Celsius and 6.0 degrees Celsius.

While Ambala showed three degrees below normal, Karnal reported two degrees down.

Cold wave conditions persisted in several areas in Himachal Pradesh where the temperature continued to stay below freezing point in tribal areas.

Bhuntar in Kullu district recorded a low of 0.8 degrees Celsius while Sundernagar in Mandi district showed 1.6 degrees Celsius.

However, the minimum temperature hovered three degrees above normal at state capital Shimla recording 7.0 degrees Celsius.

The entire Kashmir valley continued to be in the grip of cold wave with Srinagar recording minus 0.4 degrees while Jammu registered 0.9 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh and its adjoining areas in Punjab and Haryana were shrouded in a thick fog in the morning which, however, cleared as the day advanced. The city recorded the minimum temperature at 8.0 degrees Celsius, two degrees above normal.

Ground frost is likely to occur at few places in Punjab and at isolated places in haryana during the next two nights, according to the Weather Office here.

It predicted light to moderate rain or snow at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh and mainly sunny days with fog or mist in the morning and evening in Punjab and Haryana during the next 48 hours.

UNI