Sayeed Muhammad
As the entire country remained blanketed with thick fog disrupting normal life yesterday, at least 20 flights were delayed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.The airport sources said the flights, both domestic and international, from different routes could not land there in the time fixed.
Tarik Ahmed Al Sadik, assistant superintendent of the airport’s Armed Police Battalion (APBn), said a flight of Indian budget airliner SpiceJet was supposed to reach at the airport at 7:30am.“But, the flight could not make landing in its stipulated time. Afterwards, 19 more flights embraced the same fate,” he added, reports Bangla daily Prothom Alo.An Emirates flight was the first one to land at the airport at 10:27am as the situation got a lot better by then, he continued.There were also reports of water vessel services being hampered in a number of inland river routes.Even long distance bus service suffered owing to the situation that led to biting cold. Poor visibility due to fog is the main reason of flights and water vessel services being delayed or cancelled in winter. People of the country’s northern region are left the worst sufferers as the areas saw temperature plummeting.According to the Met office, the weather, surfaced since the low over the Bay weakened, will continue for a few more days.