Fog halts ferry, flight operations, causes highway crash


FE Team | Published: December 30, 2017 00:22:15


Vehicles ply a highway amid a thick blanket of fog in Bogra on Friday. The entire country is now experiencing a chilly weather with the mercury going down gradually. — Focus Bangla

Fog disrupted flight operations at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia route on Friday, causing sufferings to thousands of passengers, report agencies.

Dense fog also caused a highway pile-up on the Bangabandhu Bridge after several buses rammed into a bus that had hit another from behind.

Rezaul Karim, public relations officer at Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), said the flight operations at the airport were suspended at 1:30am due to poor runway visibility caused by thick fog.

He said the flight operations at the airport resumed at 9:50 am after the disappearance of fog.

Several flights, including that of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, could not take off and eight flights were diverted to other airport during the period, Karim added.

Besides, the ferry services were disrupted from 11:30 pm due to poor visibility caused by thick fog on Paturia-Daulatdia route," said Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury, manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Aricha.

Over one thousand vehicles, including buses and trucks, were waiting in queues on both sides of the river to cross it. Five or six kilometres-long tailback was created on both sides, though the ferry services resumed around 10:30am after the fog disappeared.

Meanwhile, the crash on Bangabandhu Bridge involving six long-haul buses was reported around 6am on Friday. At least eight people were injured, said police.

"Four buses banged into one another after a bus had hit another near pillar No. 40," OC Md Asabur Rahman of Bangabandhu Bridge (East) Police Station.

Traffic has resumed on the bridge six hours after the pile-up.

 "Vehicles started to move around 12pm after the road was cleared," OC Md Asabur Rahman of Bangabandhu Bridge (East) Police Station said. However, traffic was moving at a snail's pace on a 14-kilometre tailback at Tangail's Elenga.

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