Three killed as thick blanket of fog covers major parts of country

KARACHI: The provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh remained under heavy fog late Friday and early Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30 others in different fog-related incidents.

In Muridke, a city in Sheikhupura district of Punjab, two people lost their lives and five others were injured in a road accident due to heavy fog.

A passenger bus carrying a wedding party, en route to Chishtian from Lahore, turned over on Patoki Bypass that left a woman dead and 20 people injured.

Another tragic accident happened in Khanpur where two coaches rammed into each other and injured at least five people.

In Tandlianwala town of the Punjab, seven people were injured when three cars crashed due to heavy fog.

Thick clouds of fog badly disturbed air and land travel, with dozens of flights being cancelled, delayed or diverted to other cities and motorways being closed.

Some 20 flights at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore were cancelled on Friday due to poor visibility which was almost 30 metres. However, the airport officials temporarily resumed flight operations on Saturday.

Officials opened motorway from M-II Lahore to Sheikhupura after closing it briefly for all kinds of traffic after visibility dropped due to fog.

Meanwhile, in KP, freezing fog at the Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar too disturbed local and international flight schedules.

Traffic was extremely slow on Charsadda Motorway during a major portion of the day.

Motorway Police have been warning the civilians across the Punjab and KP to avoid unnecessary travel, urging them to use fog lights to stay away from any untoward incidents.

Surprisingly, fog also covered Karachi yesterday while late night dew wet the port city.

According to the Met Office, heavy fogs would continue in the country during the next four day and rejected any near chances of rain in winter.