Rain affects travel to and from Lahore

11 flights cancelled, 9 diverted, as 15 trains face delays

LAHORE:

Continuous rains for more than 24 hours in Punjab disrupted the flight and train schedule to and from Lahore, causing inordinate delays for thousands of passengers in reaching their destinations.

Almost the entire country is in the grip of an intermittent rain spell for the last five days. The rain spell had disrupted the daily life. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the rainfall in Lahore during the last 24 hours [till Friday morning] was up to 13 millimetres.

Because of the inclement weather, 11 flights to and from Lahore were cancelled while another nine flights were diverted to other cities after being denied permission to land at the Lahore airport. Similarly, at least 15 trains faced delays of up to five hours.

The cancelled flights included Lahore-Jeddah PK 9759; Lahore-Bahrain PK 189; Lahore-Sharjah PK-185; Karachi-Lahore PK303 and a Syrian Air flight to Karachi. The flights diverted to Islamabad included PK302 from Karachi; PK 264 from Abu Dhabi and Lahore landed in Islamabad and PK 9760 from Jeddah.

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According to sources, the 447 passengers of the diverted flights were brought to Lahore by special buses by PIA administration. Similarly, train operation was also affected because of the bad weather and passengers were forced to wait for hours for their trains.

The delayed trains included Karachi Express; Awam Express; Shah Hussain Express; Pak Business Express; Pakistan Express; Farid Express; Karakoram Express; Millat Express; Allama Iqbal Express; Khyber Mail; Tezgam; Sir Syed Express Green Line; Jaffar Express and Rehman Baba Express

Both the PIA management and Railways administration have said that the current rain spell was affecting travel across the country. They urged passengers to get information about their flight or train departure before leaving home.