Several vehicles rammed into each other, resulting in a pile-up on Lahore-Sialkot Motorway on Friday morning as the dense fog has started affecting routine life in the plain areas of Punjab, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Nine people were injured in the accident where the vehicles were damaged after the collision.
Rescue officials said those injured were shifted to a nearby health facility for medical treatment. The pile-up occurred due to the authorities’ failure to close the road for traffic owing to the dense fog.
On the other hand, the Lahore-Sheikhupura section of M-5 (Islamabad-Lahore Motorway) was closed for traffic due to the seasonal phenomenon. However, the traffic resumed after 9am.
Earlier, the fog started descending upon the region after midnight as visibility was reduced to 40 metres in several areas, including the Kala Shah Kaku Interchange, forcing the National Highways and Motorway Police to issue guidelines for road users about how to drive safely in these weather conditions.
The Motorway Police said fog had been a major cause of serious accidents, therefore road users should use fog lights to avoid mishaps.
Heavy fog has been reported on the National Highway in Rahim Yar Khan, Iqbalabad and Taranda Muhammad Pannah as well. Visibility has reduced to 50 to 100 metres in these areas.
Fog disrupts flights schedule
The dense fog brought to halt the flights operation at Lahore’s international airport where visibility was reduced to only 10 metres and the humidity was zero. The air speed was also zero due to which the fog darkened the airport’s runway, ultimately affected the flights schedule.
Turkish Airways flight 714 coming from Istanbul was diverted to Islamabad. PIA flight PK-230 coming from Muscat and AirBlue’s flight 431 also coming from Abu Dhabi were diverted to Islamabad. Turkish Airways flight 715 for Istanbul was also facing delay.
SerenAir’s flight 520 coming from Karachi and Karachi-bound flight 521, AirBlue’s Dubai-bound flight 410 and 411 return flight have been cancelled.
The Allama Iqbal International Airport’s main runway is shut for repair and the smaller runway is use is without fog lights. This ultimately is also causing difficulties in discharge of duties at the airport where passengers are facing immense problems.
The flights schedule returned to normal after the fog was lifted at around 9am.