North India: Fog disrupts flights, trains; cold wave sweeps

New Delhi, Dec 24: Air and rail services in northern India were badly hit by dense fog. Passengers were left stranded at airports and railway stations as around 10 flights and over a hundred trains were running much behind the schedules.

The airport area visibility was down to zero on runways and it was learnt that the airport authorities cancelled three flights from Delhi, including one international. Over 100 flights were affected on Sunday due to dense fog. The railway service was badly hit with many trains reaching Delhi between 12 to 22 hours late. The busy Delhi-Howrah route was the worst affected.

Meanwhile, cold waves swept across north India leaving five persons dead due to intense chill in Uttar Pradesh. Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir recorded a minimum of -7.6 degrees Celsius while Pahalgam recorded a minimum of -7.4 degrees Celsius. The state capital, Srinagar, recorded a minimum of -4 degrees Celsius, the coldest of the season so far.

Extreme cold conditions persisted in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, coupled with dense fog disrupting visibility and traffic movement. The mercury dipped five notches below normal in Hisar to settle at 1.8 degrees Celsius. Amritsar was also shivering at 2.2 degrees Celsius.

West Bengal also witnessed a very cold Sunday. In Kolkata, the maximum temperature recorded was 16.3 degrees Celsius, which was 11 notches below the normal. Operations at the city airport were also affected by dense fog.

OneIndia News