Fog disrupts normal life in Punjab cities
December 27, 2020 11:58 AM
Thick fog continued to disrupt normal life in most areas of Punjab. The dense foggy clouds also caused the suspension of all means of travelling and a number of accidents across the province.
At least two people lost their lives while four others sustained severe wounds as dense in fog-related accidents.
The visibility has dropped to almost zero on main roads across Punjab and the Lahore-Sialkot motorway has been closed for all traffic, while the flight operation at the Allama Iqbal International Airport has also got affected due to the severe weather condition.
The dense fog blanketed entire plain areas of Punjab with almost zero visibility and major sections of Motorway have been closed for all kinds of traffic.
According to a Motorway police spokesman, M-3 from Lahore to Abdul Hakeem and M-4 from Pindi Bhattian to Sham Kot have been closed. Similarly, M-5 from Multan to Sukkur has also been closed.
The spokesman has advised the commuters to seek information from Helpline 130 prior to travelling on these sections of the motorway.
The Motorway police have advised the drivers to switch on fog lights while driving at very slow speed as the visibility was dropped to zero due to dense fog. The Motorway police have also requested the people to stay home and avoid unnecessary travelling.
The meteorological department has forecast rain in Lahore, Islamabad and Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir in the next 24 hours.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the national and international flights to and from Lahore Airport were cancelled due to fog and the operation would be resumed after improvement in the weather conditions.
The airport manager at the Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore said that the fog has disrupted the flight schedule and the weather could continue to disrupt the operations until Monday morning. “The airlines are managing their flight schedule keeping in view the weather conditions,” he said adding that various flights were diverted from the airport to other destinations in the country.
According to details, many international flights were diverted from Lahore airport in the day including flights of Turkish Airlines, British Airways, and Emirates.
The Turkish Airlines’ plane was not allowed to land at the Lahore airport as it remained mid-air for a brief period and was later diverted to Karachi.
The British Airways flight from London was diverted to Islamabad while an Emirates flight was moved to Sialkot. International flights from Lahore to Doha, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi are also facing hours-long delays.