Fog strands passengers at SW China airport

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An airliner is grounded at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport due to heavy fog in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 6, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

CHENGDU - Heavy fog in southwest China's Sichuan Province forced a local airport to shut down on Sunday, grounding more than 100 flights and stranding nearly 10,000 passengers.

Heavy fog has lowered visibility at the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to no more than 50 meters since about 4 a.m., sources with the airport said.

A total of 630 flights were scheduled to arrive at or depart from the airport on Sunday, the sources said.

The flights that were affected were mainly bound for cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as some international cities, according to the sources.

"My flight has been postponed for five hours, but I can understand, as it was caused by bad weather," a passenger who declined to give his name said.

By 11:30 a.m., the fog had begun to disperse and three Air China flights were allowed to take off from the airport.

On Saturday, thousands of passengers departed from an airport in southwest China's Yunnan Province after being stranded there for three days, also due to heavy fog.

The Kunming Changshui International Airport briefly became chaotic when some passengers grew angry with the delays.