6 dead, over 60 injured
At least six people, including a woman, were killed and over 60 others were injured in multiple collisions of vehicles across Punjab due to dense fog on Thursday.
According to police, three people were killed on the motorway in an accident caused by dense fog near Farooqabad, Sheikhupura. At least 50 people were reported injured in the pileup involving dozens of vehicles. A convoy of eight vehicles was coming from Islamabad to Lahore when they and other vehicles rear-ended each other, resulting in a pileup.
After the accident, the motorway was closed between Thokar Niaz Baig and Pindi Bhattian.
Twenty five seriously injured people were shifted to DHQ Sheikhupura. Two persons were killed and more than 15 others injured in a head-on collision between a Hiace and a truck near Raiwind.
A motorcyclist died after the motorcycle skid off road and fell in gorge at GT Road. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted dense fog from Peshawar to Sawabi, Islamabad to Lahore and Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad in the next few days. The Motorway Police have advised the drivers to drive at a low speed and keep the fog lights on.
Flights, trains stranded
The dense fog on Thursday badly disrupted flights and trains schedule in the country, causing
problems passengers in the severely cold weather.
According to the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesman, several PIA flights were grounded at the Lahore and Karachi airports due to thick fog in other cities of the country.
He said that the flight operation started at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport at 8am when the fog reduced and the visibility increased. He said that PK-264 from Abu Dhabi was scheduled to reach Lahore airport on 11:20am but it arrived about three hours late due to fog. The spokesman said that PK-726 from Riyadh had also arrived with a delay of three hours at the Lahore airport. Both of these flights were earlier diverted to Karachi due to fog in Lahore.
Meanwhile, trains service which has been encountering several problems already has also suffered delays due to thick fog. According to the railway sources, trains to Lahore were reportedly late by a minimum of four hours. The Karakoram express from Karachi was late by four hours, the Night Coach by seven hours and the Allama Iqbal express was late by five hours.
