Multi-vehicle pileup on UP expressway leaves 11 injured; fog a big concern

As intense cold rises and sweeps through swatches of north India, visibility is decreasing on roads due to dense fog and disrupting rail services as well as vehicle movement. This led to a multi-vehicle pile-up in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday when at least 11 people got injured. The vehicle pile-up took place on the Lucknow-Gorakhpur National Highway.

In another incident on the Lucknow-Gorakhpur National Highway, a bus overturned after colliding with a truck which led to the pile-up of more than 12 other vehicles. 11 people in vehicles behind the bus were injured. A day earlier, two persons were killed and 15 injured in separate accidents amid low visibility due to dense fog in different districts of Uttar Pradesh.

As moderate fog cloaked Delhi, 18 trains were running late by 1:30 to five hours. Operations at the Delhi airport too got disrupted when three flights were returned or diverted to the Delhi airport due to bad weather in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Lucknow on Tuesday night.

As temperature keeps going low and peak winter hits the northern parts of India, a layer of dense to very dense fog persisted over Punjab, Haryana, northwest Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and parts of Uttarakhand, according India Meteorological Department.

During the last 24 hours, a significant drop in day temperature was also recorded in areas of Moradabad and Meerut divisions. Prayagraj, Bareilly, Moradabad, Ayodhya, Kanpur, and Bareilly too saw a drop in day temperatures.

Kashmir's harshest winter period 'Chilla-i-Kalan' began on Wednesday as well with the mercury dropping several notches below the freezing point at many places including Pahalgam, which recorded the lowest night temperature at minus 6.2 degrees Celsius. 'Chilla-i-Kalan' is a 40-day period when a cold wave grips Kashmir and temperatures drop considerably.