New Delhi, December 25
The bitter cold exacted two more lives in Uttar Pradesh and pushed the death count to 71 today as thick fog dampened the festive spirit of travellers, disrupting air, rail and road traffic for the third day running. One person died in Ambedkar Nagar and one in Sonebhadra district of UP overnight, taking the toll to 59. Agra remained the coldest place in the state at 4 °C.
With the fog reducing runway visibility to less than 50 metres, domestic flights were grounded at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2200 hours last night.
The operations were resumed after 0950 hours this morning.
Tempers ran high at the airport as passengers were made to wait for long hours for flights to take off with the mercury outside touching a low of 6.2 °C.
Several private airlines like Jet Airways, Air Deccan and Air Sahara suspended operations and over 40 flights from Delhi were affected while several international flights into the Capital had to be diverted.
Trains like Amrapali Express from Katihar, G T Express from Chennai and Uncahar Express from Allahabad were more than five hours late, Northern Railway officials said.
Many trains running on the Delhi-Ambala-Kalka section were running late due to the dense fog, which also snarled traffic on National Highway 1 and state highways.
Fog engulfed many places including Adampur, Halwara, Ambala, Sirsa, Bathinda, Hindon and Palam (zero visibility) while Chandigarh, Udhampur and Pathankot reported mist, the meteorological office said.
— PTI
