THICK fog at dawn till the mid-day is making people’s movement by road; aviation and riverine transports risky as a news report on Thursday highlighted the situation at Dhaka Airport and some river crossings. It said local and international flights could not land and take off early on Thursday morning at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA). Several flights were forced to divert their route and land at Chittagong international airport in absence of clear visibility at Dhaka aerodrome.
The ferry services across Padma River on several routes were also put on halt late last night till clear visibility restored by early mid-day. Launch services are also facing growing risk of being grounded in shallow riverbeds. It is a risky time for pilots who are not able to see distance few meters away in many cases in dense fog adding greater risk to get stuck up with passengers in mid-rivers.
We must say bigger safety precautions should be at work at all airports in the country now in view of the fact that foggy weather in morning is keeping the sky unclear for safe landing. A small misreading of landing signs may prove quite fatal. At least three flights were diverted to Chittagong last morning while other incoming international flights were diverted from mid air to other airports. Some departure flights were asked to delay take off as per information made available by concerned agencies. Dhaka Airport is not well equipped with standard emergency landing gears and such other safety measures and better it should avoid risks although dislocation of flight schedules create problems for outgoing passengers booked for link-flights to their destinations.
Passengers in highways particularly for southwestern part of Bangladesh suffered the worst in Padma River banks last morning as ferry service remained suspended for several hours. It did not operate at Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Daulatdia crossing at least up to 10 a.m. leaving passengers highly vulnerable to shivering cold and wind. At Paturia ghat four ferries remained stranded for in mid-river with about three hundred passengers when men, women and children were exposed to severe cold.
We are concerned for safety of all passengers using all modes of transports and ask owners of motor vehicles, drivers and also passengers to use extreme precautions to avoid mishaps. On highways the visibility is very poor and transport owners must avoid using faulty vehicles and over-worked drivers to avoid accidents. Foggy weather particularly hits late night and early morning and only few hours of delay or waiting will be able to protect people’s valuable life. We must say it is time for extreme caution.
