Delhi wakes up to dense fog: As visibility drops, 5 flights diverted, over 20 trains running late

New Delhi, Jan 22: Delhi and its surrounding national capital region (NCR) woke up to yet another cold day on Wednesday with dense fog engulfing the national capital.

The minimum temperature in the national capital dropped to 7 degrees Celsius in the morning.

As visibility dropped below 50 metres, five flights have been diverted at Delhi airport due to dense fog on Wednesday morning, an airport official said.

"Five flights diverted as captain was not trained to land under CAT conditions," the official said.

When the runway visual range (RVR) is minimum 200 metres, then only that pilot -- who is trained in instrument landing system Category 3A (CATIIIA) -- can land the aircraft.

If the RVR is minimum 50 metres, then a pilot who is trained in using CATIIIB landing system can land the aircraft at the airport.

Meanwhile, at least 22 trains are running late by several hours due to dense fog enveloping different parts of northern India.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), "dense to very dense fog was observed over Punjab, north Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, East UP and Bihar at 0530 hours IST today. Visibility recorded at 0530 hours IST of today (in meters): Patiala, Bikaner, Churu, Hissar, Delhi, Baharaich, Gorakhpur and Patna - 25 each; Lucknow - 50."

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had on Tuesday predicted dense to very dense fog over parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during the next two days.

Earlier on Tuesday, the temperature in Delhi was recorded at 10.6 degrees Celsius in Safdarjung and 9.6 degrees Celsius in Palam.