Dense fog in Jammu hits rail and air traffic

Dense fog disrupted air and rail traffic in the city with a Jammu-bound flight diverted to Amritsar whereas another one was delayed due to poor visibility.
All trains to the city were also running late.
"A Jammu-bound flight had to be diverted to Amritsar whereas another flight was delayed by more than three hours and the pilot had to hold the plane in the air for an hour before making a landing at the airport here," Officer on Special duty at Air Traffic Management (ATM) Jammu airport RK Awasthi said.
He said the disruption happened due to poor visibility at the airport after dense fog engulfed the region early morning.

Awasthi added that flight operations have now returned to normal.
"Air traffic has become normal here after the visibility improved as the weather improved," he said.

The official said that the flight that was diverted to Amritsar was also expected to land in Jammu shortly.
Meanwhile, several trains coming to Jammu, too, were running late owing to the dense fog.
"Around 10 trains were cancelled in the past few days due to the fog in the region. Today, too, almost all the trains coming to Jammu have been delayed by several hours due to the fog in the region," an official at the Jammu railway station said.

The state meteorological department said that such conditions will continue for some more days to come.
"The dry weather conditions in Jammu region would continue till January 27 and on January 28, there are chances of isolated rainfall in the region," Director of the state Meteorological Department, Sonam Lotus said.
"While the maximum temperature in Jammu was 11 degrees centigrade, which was two degrees lower than the temperature recorded in Srinagar, the minimum temperature for Jammu was recorded at 3 degrees Celsius," Lotus said.