Heavy fog continues to take its toll on communications across the country as delays were reported in flight operations, ferry services and road traffic movement, report agencies. Dense fog caused significant delays on flights landing and taking off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for the third consecutive day yesterday.

A blanket of fog disrupted the flight operations for six hours at the airport yesterday. Rezaul Karim, spokesperson of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), said flight operations at the airport were suspended since 3:30 am and four inbound and outbound flights were delayed due to poor runway visibility caused by thick fog.

A flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines had to be diverted to Chittagong and two other scheduled outbound flights did not take off from the airport while no domestic flight departed the airport, he elaborated. The flight operations at the airport resumed at 9:30 am after disappearance of fog, he added.

Earlier, on Wednesday morning, flight operations at HSIA were disrupted due to dense fog, affecting the schedules of over 33 domestic and international flights.

At least 20 flights to Dhaka were also delayed due to the fog on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, ferry services were also hit as the plying of ferries on the Daulatdia-Paturia route resumed early yesterday after six hours of disruption due to blurred visibility caused by thick fog.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) manager at Aricha station Khandaker Tanvir Hossainn said the ferry services had been kept suspended on the route from 1:40 am to 7:40 am due to dense fog.

During the time, four ferries remained stranded in the mid-river.

Following suspension of ferry services, hundreds of vehicle remained stuck in a long queue at Doulatdia ghat, said the official.

Seven ferries in Patuaria and five in Doulatdia ghat were tied to the pontoons, he added.

On the Shimulia-Kathalbari route, ferry services were suspended since 1:30am. The services resumed yesterday morning after seven-hour delay visibility was clear. Overnight, five ferries were stranded mid-river and about 500 vehicles queued on either side of the Padma.

Passengers using the Dhaka-Tangail highway also faced hassles as they had to wait in long queues of vehicles for about 20 hours since 9pm Thursday due to dense fog on the road. About 60k long tailback was reported on the highway that started easing around 5pm yesterday. Apart from dense fog, construction of a four-lane highway was also responsible for the tailback, claimed passengers.