Flight departures from Delhi's IGI airport on hold due to fog

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New Delhi: Outbound Christmas travellers from the Indira Gandhi International airport were hardly merry on Tuesday as morning departures were put on hold due to dense fog.

News agency ANI reported at 0900hrs that departures of all flights had been on hold since an hour due to the prevailing foggy conditions and congestion. The stream of passengers here reportedly kept increasing through the early morning hours - primarily due to the festive season, only to be informed that their respective flight departures has been delayed.

Flight delays and even cancellations are quite frequent at the IGI during the winter months when foggy conditions reduce visibility to unsafe levels. On Monday morning, visibility in Palam had dropped to 300m while Tuesday morning was almost as bad.

Apart from air traffic getting affected, train movement is also severely impacted each year due to fog. Road accidents are also frequent and on Monday morning, eight people died in a 50-vehicle pileup near Haryana's Jhajjar.