Trains cancelled, three killed in accidents due to dense fog
DECEMBER BLUES Condition to worsen in coming days as the maximum temperature is likely to dip further, says weather department
: Visibility dipped due to fog on Christmas Day in most parts of northern India caused cancellation of at least 17 trains and four accidents in Uttar Pradesh resulting in death of three people.
Even though the northern railway spokesperson on Monday said that 26 trains were delayed and six other were rescheduled, the passengers faced delays for most of the training reaching their destination during morning hours.
Also, the departure of trains was rescheduled due to foggy conditions.
The entire northern plains have been covered with dense fog in the past week in Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal, and weather department officials said conditions will intensity in coming days.
The average temperature in the region hovered between 7 and 22 degrees Celsius. The Met predicted that maximum temperature is likely to dip further and minimum may rise by one or two notches. However, in some cities of Uttar Pradesh such as Muzaffarnagar, the minimum temperature was as low as 4 degree.
Three separate accidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh. Ten school students were injured in an accident in Mainpuri on Monday after the school bus of ‘Baba International’ collided with a truck. Ghiror’s sub-divisional magistrate Ram Chandra said the school was open to celebrate the birthdays of some children.
In a separate accident, a Ukrainian girl identified as Dana and a youth from Delhi were killed when their SUV dashed on the divider on Agra Noida Yamuna Expressway. Another girl from Ukraine travelling with them was also injured.
A UP state transport bus on way to Mirzapur collided head on with a truck near Pratapgarh district early Monday, resulting in the death of the driver, Rasheed, 28. Around half a dozen passengers were injured, who were shifted to a nearby hospital by
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH/LUCKNOW
locals and police.
In Chandigarh, of the 56 trains, 14 arrived late including New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi train. The delay was of upto three hours.
Most cities of Uttar Pradesh saw the skyline covered with dense fog on Monday morning with temperature in Lucknow dipping to 7.7 degrees Celsius. The visibility was reduced to a few metres in several areas.
Met department director JP Gupta said there will be no significant change in weather conditions in next 24 hours and warned of dense fog in some parts of the state, especially outskirts of Allahabad and neighbouring Pratapgarh district, where temperatures fell below 5 degrees Celsius.
Weather expert and former head, department of geography, Allahabad University, BN Mishra said the cold wave has intensified with snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand.
“Strong western disturbance as expected this week would witness further dip in temperature leading to fog conditions getting worse in northern plains.”
Chandigarh met department officials said that there was possibility of moderate to shallow fog in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh during evenings and mornings in next three to four days.