E-Paper
11 dead, 32 injured as fog engulfs northern states
Eleven people were killed and 32 injured in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan in accidents wrought by the fog, a day after 14 people died
New Delhi A thick sheet of fog engulfed the northern plains yet again on Wednesday, severely truncating visibility, wrecking transport schedules and resulting in a spate of accidents and deaths across the region.
According to state officials, 11 people were killed and 32 injured in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan in accidents wrought by the fog, a day after 14 people died.
Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said visibility at the Amritsar airport dropped to zero metres at 5.30am, to 25m at Patiala, Srinagar, Bareilly, Lucknow and Prayagraj, and to 50m at Varanasi, Delhi and Sri Ganganagar.
The visibility is unlikely to be better over at least the next three or four mornings, added IMD officials, predicting “dense to very dense” fog in the northern plains over this time.
A “red alert” has been issued for all of the northern plains, same for Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, with dense fog expected to stretch till Bihar’s eastern corner.
The fog cover dissipated by noon, said IMD officials, but not before catching millions of residents by surprise.
In Uttar Pradesh, nine people, including two students were killed and about 30 others were injured in separate road accidents on Wednesday morning, police said.
Two students who were going for examinations, two women pilgrims from Punjab and a local functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were among the dead.
On the Agra-Firozabad highway, a truck carrying poultry met with an accident, killing its driver, Umesh Yadav, and injuring around half a dozen people, said trans-Yamuna station house officer, Sunmesh Kumar.
Onlookers, meanwhile, ran to steal chicken from the truck amid the melee.
In Unnao, three passenger buses rammed into each other, leaving several injured.
In Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, two people died in an accident between a Rajasthan Roadways bus and an autorickshaw that was carrying four passengers.
The chaos extended to neighbouring Haryana. In Karnal, at least seven vehicles crashed into each other due to severe fog on the Karnal-Indri road.
Railway operations, meanwhile, were also affected yet again, with the dense fog forcing trains to run late, be diverted or be cancelled entirely.
For instance, hundreds of passengers were stranded at the Ludhiana station as 33 trains ran late.
According to a statement by Ferozepur railway division, the railways have cancelled the Amritsar-Banmankhi Jan Sewa Express till February 29 and the Jammu Tawi-Rishikesh train till February 25. “Rail services between Chandigarh and Amritsar have also been suspended till March 1. The Amritsar-Lalkuan train stands cancelled till February 24, while the Amritsar-Jaynagar train will resume after February 27,” the statement said.
It added that the Ajmer-Amritsar train will not run till February 29 and the Tatanagar-Amritsar till February 28. Rail services between Chandigarh and Ferozepur Cantt are cancelled till February 29. The Kalka-Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra train is cancelled till February 27, while the Amritsar-Nangal dam train stands terminated till February 29, the release said.
