Thursday, December 22 2005 10:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A thick fog cover enveloped the capital today(Dec 22,2005) morning, severely affecting air service to and from Delhi, with all flights getting delayed and some international flights diverted to other cities.

While in general the fog reduced the visibility to around 200 metres, the visibility on the runway at the domestic and international airports went down to as low as 50 metres around 0630 hours.

As a result of the low visibility, no flights could take off or land for around two hours since 0630 hours, airport sources said.

Five Lufthansa flights were diverted to other cities during this time, they said.

After 0900 hours, however, the visibility started improving and flights began taking off, but there was a delay of around two to three hours.

CAT 3 B instrument landing system had been activated since 0620 hours, the sources said.

Due to foggy conditions in North India, trains arriving here were also delayed by as much as six hours, while early morning motorists went slow due to the fog.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in Delhi rose by almost a degree since yesterday, to be recorded at 6.5 degrees Celsius, which is, however, a degree below normal, the Met office said.

The maximum temperature recorded yesterday was 23.2 degrees Celsius.

The Met office has forecast that the minimum temperature will stay around seven degrees Celsius and that there will be fog in the morning.