Dense fog halts flights, ferries
Due to poor visibility caused by fog, authorities kept flight operations and ferry services suspended for several hours early yesterday.
In the dense fog, a bus heading for Dhaka rear-ended a sand-laden truck on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway near Kazir Shimla High School yesterday morning killing bus assistant Abul Hossain. Seventeen others were injured.
Talking to The Daily Star, Officer-in-Charge of Trishal Police Station Azizur Rahman said Abul Hossain was ejected from the bus on impact.
Flight operations were suspended for seven hours from 3:00am at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), UNB reports quoting Beni Madhab Biswas, deputy director of the airport.
Operations resumed around 10:00am after visibility improved, the official said.
Three international flights, including a cargo flight, had to divert to Kolkata.
The Met office forecast that the mild cold wave sweeping across the country might subside.
In its latest bulletin, it said the cold wave sweeping over Rangpur division and the regions of Rajshahi, Naogaon, Jashore and Chuadanga might abate at some places.
It said moderate to thick fog might occur at most places over the country between midnight and morning and stay until noon.
The fog prompted authorities to suspend ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia route at 5:00am, said Assistant General Manager Zillur Rahman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
Out of the 15 ferries operating on the route, nine got stranded mid-river, one at Paturia and five others at Daulatdia.
Several hundred vehicles queued up on both sides.
Various cold-related diseases affected 6,071 people across the country in the 24 hours ending Wednesday morning.
Data from the Directorate General of Health Services control room showed that 945 of the patients received treatment for acute respiratory infection.
Another 2,086 were treated for diarrhoea and 3,040 for other diseases, including jaundice, eye inflammation, skin issues and fever.
Fifty-four deaths were reported across the country between November 1 and January 14 due to cold-related diseases.
Vast swathes of Bangladesh were hit by cold waves this season. The worst hit areas lie in the country’s northern region.
Government figures show that 377,808 people had been affected by cold-related diseases since November 1 last year.
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