Lingering heavy winter fog was responsible for delays of 15 flights this morning at Meilan Airport in this capital of southernmost China's island province of Hainan, a renowned tropical tourist resort.

At 4 a.m. today, heavy fog shrouded the airport, diminishing visibility to about 100 meters.

By 11 a.m. the fog had mostly broken up and flights were resumed.

A cold front has produced fog and rain around the island for the past week. However, dense fog usually disperses by noon. So far, no passengers have been stranded at the airport.

On Sunday, 22 flights due to depart or arrive at Meilan were delayed. Flight 4315 from Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Haikou was forced to land in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province.

(Xinhua 02/06/2001)