Five killed, 8 injured in accidents: Thick smog blankets Punjab; flight, train operations disrupted

LAHORE: The central and southern areas of Punjab remained blanketed by smog Friday, which resulted in disruption of flight and train operations in some cities of the province.

Several flights from the Lahore and Sialkot airports faced delays due to the critical smog situation. Four flights scheduled for Lahore were diverted to Islamabad. The schedule of trains from Karachi and Quetta was also affected.

Meanwhile, motorways were blocked for traffic at different spots after reports of several traffic accidents. M2 from Bhera, M4 from Shershah to Shamkot and M5 from the Jalalpur interchange to Shershah and from Rohri to Guddu have been blocked.

The Motorway Police have advised the citizens to drive safe and avoid unnecessary travel.

Three people were killed and another was injured in a road accident in Bahawalpur, while two others were killed and seven were wounded when a car plunged into a river in Gujranwala. Lahore has consistently been ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world on the Air Quality Index for some time now.