Fog delays flights, port stays shut

Heavy fog grounded flights at a city airport and kept a local port closed yesterday, Shanghai transport officials said.

Meanwhile, more fog and haze would be seen in parts of the city today, forecasters said yesterday.

Fifteen flights were canceled and more than 120 delayed when fog shrouded Pudong International Airport.

Seventeen flights had to land at the city's western Hongqiao airport before services returned to normal at Pudong at noon.

Pudong Waigaoqiao Port, a major harbor for international ships, has been closed since the weekend. Conditions hadn't improved yesterday with officials describing the situation as "the most severe this year."

Loading operations were hampered by low visibility, which was less than a hundred meters, at the port, they said.

However, shipping movements at the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta were gradually returning to normal and by yesterday afternoon more than 850 ships had begun to enter the deep-water channel which had been off-limits.

Meanwhile, three fishermen were rescued off Shanghai early yesterday morning after their boat hit a rock.

Police were alerted at about 3am that the boat was sinking near Sheshan Island in the East China Sea.

But fog hampered the rescue operation and a marine patrol boat didn't manage to reach the scene until 6am.

With the help of another fishing boat nearby, the fishermen were saved before their boat sank, police said.

The boat owner, surnamed Chen, said they had come from Jiangsu Province and were on their way to Shanghai to have their boat repaired before the end of the current fishing ban in August.

They were not familiar with the navigation routes around Shanghai and the heavy fog added to their plight, Chen said.

Today's forecast is for cloudy skies with temperatures ranging from 23 to 31 degrees Celsius.