Fog hits life in north; flights, trains delayed

A thick fog on Friday enveloped the Delhi and several areas of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, throwing air traffic out of gear for almost seven hours in Delhi and hitting rail and road traffic with office-goers and students facing problems in reaching their destinations.

Delhiites woke up to the season's first foggy morning with visibility being reduced to a few metres.

The dense fog descended shortly after midnight reducing Runway Visibility Range to 200 metres, airport sources said. Five flights, four international and one domestic, were diverted and no flight could be operated for almost seven hours.

The operations resumed as the fog started to clear with the first domestic flight taking off from here at 0945 hours for Ahmedabad followed by another to Bangalore, the sources said.

Fog also hit train services with many of them running behind schedule, Northern Railway sources said.

New Delhi Kalka Shatabdi, Nizamudin Kalka Himlayan Queen, Bhiwani Kalka Ekta Express and Lucknow Chandigarh Sadhbhavna Express were delayed by between 40 minutes to two-and-a-half hours.

Vehicles moved at a slow speed due to the thick blanket of fog.

Met department, which had forecast fog, mist and cloudy conditions for the day, attributed the chill in the capital to the cold winds blowing from the North.

The region has been under the grip of cold wave for almost ten days with snowfall in the upper reaches and heavy to scattered rains in the hills and plains.