Vehicles drive past residential apartment buildings shrouded by haze in Beijing
Beijing:
Fog and pollution descended on northern China on Sunday, leading to flight cancellations and road closures at a time when millions of Chinese were headed home as a weeklong national holiday neared its end.
The haze hanging over a large area of northern China including the capital, neighboring Hebei province and the port city of Tianjin would persist until Monday afternoon, China's National Meteorological Center said. It said in some areas of Beijing visibility had dropped to less than 500 meters (yards) on Saturday night and Sunday morning
The oppressive smog in the capital sparked a high pollution alert from the US Embassy, which monitors air quality. In an email to American citizens, it said its readings had averaged more than 300 on its air quality index in the 24 hours beginning Friday evening and more than 400 overnight Saturday. Anything over 301 on the US Environmental Protection Agency scale is considered hazardous to health. It recommended people to stay indoors and run air purifiers continuously.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during the October 1-7 holiday known as Golden Week. The week is characterized by long lines of traffic and delayed journeys, complicated further Sunday by the partial closure, according to state media, of six inter-provincial expressways, including one linking Beijing and Shanghai.
Beijing Capital International Airport said four international flights had been cancelled Sunday morning, including to Mongolia and Russia, while three others had been delayed. Two domestic flights were cancelled and 20 delayed.
The airport said on its microblog at lunchtime that flights were gradually returning to normal and that visibility was more than 800 meters (half a miles) and was expected to increase further to 1,000 to 1,500 meters (nearly one mile) during Sunday afternoon.
The haze hanging over a large area of northern China including the capital, neighboring Hebei province and the port city of Tianjin would persist until Monday afternoon, China's National Meteorological Center said. It said in some areas of Beijing visibility had dropped to less than 500 meters (yards) on Saturday night and Sunday morning
The oppressive smog in the capital sparked a high pollution alert from the US Embassy, which monitors air quality. In an email to American citizens, it said its readings had averaged more than 300 on its air quality index in the 24 hours beginning Friday evening and more than 400 overnight Saturday. Anything over 301 on the US Environmental Protection Agency scale is considered hazardous to health. It recommended people to stay indoors and run air purifiers continuously.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during the October 1-7 holiday known as Golden Week. The week is characterized by long lines of traffic and delayed journeys, complicated further Sunday by the partial closure, according to state media, of six inter-provincial expressways, including one linking Beijing and Shanghai.
Beijing Capital International Airport said four international flights had been cancelled Sunday morning, including to Mongolia and Russia, while three others had been delayed. Two domestic flights were cancelled and 20 delayed.
The airport said on its microblog at lunchtime that flights were gradually returning to normal and that visibility was more than 800 meters (half a miles) and was expected to increase further to 1,000 to 1,500 meters (nearly one mile) during Sunday afternoon.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
