Tuesday, December 27 2005 10:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Fog, which blinded North India in the past one week throwing road, rail and air traffic in disarray, vanished providing much-needed relief to harried travellers as one more person succumbed to the bone-chilling cold pushing the death count this winter to 74.

Uttar Pradesh, which bore the brunt of the cold fury, accounted for 59 fatalities followed by Punjab (12) and Haryana (three).

The national capital woke up to a bright and sunny morning after a fog-enveloped weekend which saw chaos, confusion and frayed tempers at the airport with flight schedules going haywire.

All national and international flights from the IGI Airport operated on schedule. However, efforts to clear the backlog led to some flights being delayed, cancelled and rescheduled.

Fog also lifted in other parts of the region even as the cold wave, sweeping the region, showed no signs of let up.

Rail and road traffic in most places in Punjab and Haryana plied normally as visibility, which hovered at near zero in the past few days, improved considerably.

Minimum temperatures inched upwards at some places in the region though Jalandhar and Amritsar in Punjab shivered recording a low of 0.4 degrees and 1.8 degrees celsius respectively.

Mercury hovered between minus 0.3 degrees and minus one degree celsius in Sundernagar and Bhuntar in Himachal Pradesh while it rose marginally in Shimla which recorded a low of 6.7 degrees celsius.

Srinagar was in the grip of a piercing cold wave with minimum temperature plunging to minus 5.1 degrees celsius.

Jammu recorded a low of 6.7 degrees celsius, two degrees below normal.