The flight enquiry at Zia International Airport said they were compelled to rearrange the schedule for a number of international and domestic flights due to dense fog. Even hours after day-break, vehicles were seen plying the roads with fog lights on in and out of the capital.

Thousands of passengers, including Biswa Ijtema-bound devotees, had to wait the whole night on both sides of the Padma and the Jamuna as ferry services remained disrupted for dense fog for nine hours.

The Met office sources said it will take a couple of days to improve the situation.

Our Manikganj correspondent reported that ferry and launch services on Doulatdia-Paturia-Nagarbari routes were suspended for nine hours from 1:00am yesterday due to dense fog.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) officials at Paturia said more than 1,000 vehicles with about 40,000 passengers aboard were stranded for hours on both sides of the Padma and Jamuna at Daulatdia, Paturia and Nagarbari points.

About 400 vehicles from Dhaka lined up at paturia in Manikganj, 550 vehicles, including Ijtema bound bus, lined up at Daulatdia in Rajbari and 50 vheicles at Nagarbari terminal in Pabna district, the officials said.

UNB adds: Thick fog disrupted ferry movement on Mawa-Kaorakandi route from 10:00pm on Thursday to 9:00am yesterday, causing severe traffic congestion on both sides of the river and immense sufferings to passengers.

BIWTC sources said four ferries with passengers got stranded in the middle of the Padma. Ferry movement became normal after 9:00am yesterday, but the traffic congestion continued until 12:00noon.