Intense fog strands 3,000 passengers at Wuhan airport

Wuhan (CNS) — Nearly 3,000 passengers were stranded at Wuhan Tianhe Airport on the morning of February 5 as a thick blanket of fog smothered the skies above this city in Hubei Province, central China.

Twenty-two inbound flights and 25 outbound flights were delayed, without a single airplane cleared to take off or land between 7:30 am to 10:47 am that morning.

Wuhan Tianhe Airport issued a yellow warning and comforted stranded passengers when visibility was gauged to be less than 100 meters and therefore insufficient to meet flight standards.

As of 10: 45, the fog gradually dispersed, and within minutes Flight MU2493 to Kunming took off and flight KA850 from Hong Kong landed at the airport at 11:04 am, beginning the resumption of normal operations.

According to statistics from related local government departments, the total number of passengers airborne in China's skies on February 5 hit 18,104, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.19 percent.