Taib Ahmed
Dense fog with cold continued to disrupt normal life widely across the country on Sunday as the sun has remained shrouded since Thursday affecting the river, road and air transports. At least 28 people were injured in accidents involving launches in the River Shitalakhya in Narayanganj Saturday night and trucks in Sirajganj due to poor visibility on the rivers and highways.
The New Age correspondents from different districts report: The sun remained covered with clouds and fog throughout the day, making people in the open shivering with a biting cold, forcing many to stay indoors.
‘Almost all the Dhaka-bound flights were forced to delay their landing at Zia International Airport on Sunday due to the dense fog,’ Mohammad Shahidul Islam, an assistant information officer at ZIA, told New Age.
‘A flight of Air Arabia, scheduled to land at ZIA at 3:30am, landed at 12:25pm on Sunday,’ he said, adding, ‘In the same way, at least 10 flights from the Gulf Air, Etihad, Emirates, Kuwait and Bangladesh Biman made delays in landing at ZIA due to the dense fog and at least one flight was forced to land at Kolkata airport.’
The flights resumed shortly after 11:00am Sunday, when the fog cleared a little, the official said.
Ferry, launch and other river transports came to a halt for the second night too for dense fog, officials of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation said.
An on-duty meteorologist at the Agargaon Met Office in Dhaka said the unusually heavy fog might last two to three more days.
The New Age correspondent in Manikganj said ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Paturia-Kazirhat routes remained disrupted for 12 hours and 30 munites, from 10:30pm Saturday to Sunday 11:00am, with dense fog continuing for the fourth consecutive day.
About 350 loaded trucks, 100 buses with passengers and 50-60 small vehicles at Paturia and 250 loaded trucks, 200 buses with passengers and 50-60 small vehicles at Daulatdia remained stranded causing sufferings to the passengers, BIWTC official Ashraf Ullah Khan said.
The New Age correspond in Barisal reports that ferry services on the Mawa-Kawrakandi route in the River Padma remained suspended for 15 hours since Saturday night due to dense fog.
The service was suspended at about 8:30pm on Saturday due to poor visibility and resumed at 11:30am on Sunday.
The Barisal Launch Owners Association sources said more than 150 river transports plying on 28 routes in the south, carrying more than 50,000 passengers, were stranded at different places from Munshiganj, Chandpur to Hizla, Charmonai channels on the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Meghna and its tributaries from Saturday night.
Meanwhile at least eight passengers were injured and engines and decks of the MV Kirtonkhola-1 were damaged as it collided with MV Suravi-7 on the River Shitalakkhaya Saturday night due to poor of visibility.
The New Age correspondent in Sirajganj said dense fog and shivering cold continued to disrupt normal life and traffic basically in char areas till Sunday.
At least ten vehicles including a potato-laden truck was involved in an accident at Konabari Sunday morning, leaving at least twenty passengers, helpers and the drivers injured.
Besides, the communication on the Sirajganj-Konabari-Nalka Highway remained disrupted for at least two hours from 6:00am. The vehicles needed to move slowly and used headlights all day long.
The New Age correspondent in Kurigram said normal life was paralysed in all the nine upazilas of the district in the last several days due to biting cold and dense fog.
Most of the people remained indoors. Only day labourers came out for livelihood.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
