Dense fog persists over Delhi-NCR; 5 killed including 1 child

In many parts of North India on Wednesday a severe fog engulfed affecting visibility in many states. Due to severe cold five people including one child in Noida.

Earlier at 6.10 am 5.9 degree Celsius minimum temperature was recorded at Safdarjung and in Palam, there were 100 meters of visibility at 6.10 am.

Meanwhile, 26 trains got delayed and 10 flights, scheduled to depart from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), were delayed due to dense fog.

The flight routes which are affected by fog were Delhi-Shimla, Delhi-Kathmandu, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Jaisalmer, Delhi-Bareilly, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Jaipur, and Delhi-Guwahati.

These trains got delayed by three hours Gorakhpur-Bathinda Gorakhdham Express, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus- Amritsar Express, Pratapgarh-Delhi Padmavat Express, and Dr. Ambedkar Nagar- Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Malwa Superfast Express were running late by up to 2 hours. While Barauni-New Delhi Clone Special, Katihar-Amritsar Express, Visakhapatnam-New Delhi Andhra Pradesh Express, and Jabalpur-Hazrat Nizamuddin Gondwana Express.

Moreover by 4 hours MahabodhiExpress, and Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express,
Puri- New Delhi Purushottam Express, Azamgarh-Delhi Kaifiyaat Express, Kamakhya-Delhi Brahmaputra Mail, and Jaynagar-Amritsar Clone Special were running late.

“Dense/Very Dense Fog layer (in the white patch) extends from Punjab to Bihar across Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh,” tweeted the India Meteorological Department.

Talking about the air quality of Delhi continued to be “severe” on Wednesday with Air Quality Index (AQI) 421.

However, in the last 23 years, Delhi experienced the third worst cold spell and from 14 January there will be a second spell of cold in Delhi.

Talking to the media IMD scientist RK Jenamani said, “A cold spell means the number of days we experienced which is in the range of 5 to 6 days. A similar situation was there in the year 2006 when we had the lowest temperature of 1.9 degrees Celsius. In 2013 also, we had a similar cold spell, and January 3-9 was the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years.”