Dense fog Sunday descended on Shanghai, causing the city's two airports -- Hongqiao and Pudong -- to shut down for more than three hours.

Around 200 flights were delayed by nightfall in the heaviest fog so far this winter. And the news remains bleak with the local meteorological observatory cautioning the city is likely to see heavy fog in the next few days as temperatures remain high.

Airport officials in Shanghai urged passengers to contact airline companies before heading for the airports to check their flights have not been delayed. The heavy fog also made the city's ferries and three major expressways around the city shut for hours.

Pudong International Airport was closed between 05:30 and 09:00 yesterday with a total of 73 incoming or outgoing flights delayed. Hongqiao Airport also closed at 05:30 and reopened half an hour later than Pudong with more than 100 flights delayed.

Elsewhere in China, the airport in Urumqi of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region also suffered heavy fog and frost, causing at least 17 flights to be delayed and more than eight flights cancelled.

(China Daily January 14, 2002)