Snowfall creates transport chaos

By Wang Wei , Cui Xiaohuo and Wang Hongyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-11 09:45

More than 200 flights were cancelled or delayed at Beijing Capital International Airport during the biggest snowfall this winter yesterday.

Chang Jun, deputy manager of the airport's operation center, said 80 out of 1300 flights were cancelled and 150 were delayed by 4 pm yesterday.

The airport launched its emergency weather plan before the snow began at 11 pm on Monday, and eight snowplows were working by 3:00 am.

Chang said all runways were cleared of snow by 6:30 am, and snow and ice were removed from most aircraft by 11:30 am.

The snow also caused transport chaos in downtown Beijing, where the transport authority cancelled 44 suburban bus routes.

Faced with long traffic jams, some bus passengers chose to get out of the buses and walk up to 5 km in the cold weather to their destination.

Many commuters also asked their bosses for a day's leave.

Meanwhile, many plane passengers were left stranded at the airport, including Ime Ekanem, a United States businessman, who said he was left waiting for more than 10 hours for his flight.

"I missed an important business meeting in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. My business partner had to rearrange it," Ekanem said.

Another passenger surnamed Zhang said he would be stranded at the airport for one day because his flight was cancelled.

"I totally understand the flight was cancelled because of the bad weather," Zhang said.

"The airline I was supposed to fly with was very nice to me and answered all of my questions patiently, so I don't have much to complain about."

Passengers also flooded to the subway system during morning rush hours. Many said they had to wait for two trains before getting into crowded carriages.

Jia Peng, spokesman for the subway operation company, said they added an additional 15 trains during the rush hours.

The subway company also used a large amount of snow-melting agents to clean the thick snow from the rails.

In addition, hospitals reported an influx of patients who had slipped on the snow and ice and suffered bone fractures.

Beijing Jishuitan Hospital said it treated about 40 patients, twice as many as normal days.

Most of the patients were middle-aged or elderly people, and suffered thigh and wrist fractures.

"The days of snow have put tremendous pressure on pedestrians and the number of trauma and fracture patients is also on the rise," said Li Ting, a hospital doctor.

Li said there would likely be a sharp rise in patients suffering fractures today because the road would be slippery after the melted water froze again through the night.