Thick fog blanketed most of the country yesterday, disrupting normal life. At least 20 flights of different airlines were delayed while road and water links hampered.

The chill weather has hit people, mainly children and elderly, across the country. Residents in northern districts have been among the worst hit.

Thousands of passengers suffered from delays as several hundred buses and other vehicles were stranded at Shimulia-Kawrakandi and Paturia-Daulatdia ferry terminals after suspension of ferry services due to poor visi-

bility, reports our Munshiganj correspondent.

Ferry services on the Shimulia-Kawrakandi route in the Padma were snapped for around 14 hours since 8:00pm on Wednesday. Five ferries stopped in mid-river for hours due to poor visibility.

No ferries plied the Paturia-Daulatdia route for over seven hours since 11:00pm on Wednesday. The inclement weather left four ferries stranded in mid-river on the route, said terminal sources.

Buses and goods-laden trucks caused huge tailbacks at the ferry terminals on both sides of the river.

OurTangail correspondent adds: At five road accidents caused around 35-km and 10-km-long queues on the Tangail and Sirajganj ends of the Bangabandhu Bridge on Wednesday night. The gridlocks caused sufferings to thousands of passengers.

Such disruption in road and river links might continue for the next two or three days mainly in the coastal and reverine areas across the country, said the Dhaka Met office.

Though the temperature, said a Met official, fell in the last few days, the first cold spell of this winter is yet to hit the country when the mercury is likely to dip below 10 degrees Celsius.

Yesterday, the country's lowest temperature was recorded in Rajshahi, 11.1 degree Celsius. The country might experience a cold spell from December 19 or 20.

FLIGHT DISRUPTION

Some 20 flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and other international carriers were delayed up to

12 hours since midnight Wednesday as they could not land at Shahjalal International Airport, said airport sources.

Two flights from Bangkok and Kuwait were diverted to Chittagong airport from Dhaka while another flight from Singapore to Kolkata airport. The two flights, however, took off for Dhaka from Chittagong around 11:30am yesterday.

Nine Biman flights were either diverted to other airports or delayed for hours. The disruption to air traffic left hundreds of passengers stranded at different airports.

A Biman official said they requested the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) to keep the Chittagong and Sylhet airports open throughout Wednesday night. But the Caab turned down the

request, forcing Biman to divert one of its flights to Kolkata that night. The two airports usually operate till 11:00pm daily.

The Caab suspended flight operations at Shahjalal International Airport from 10:45am to 1:25pm yesterday for a flying-past exercise of Bangladesh Air Force. However, the exercise did not take place due to poorvisibility.