A heavy fog has loomed over east China's Zhejiang Province since Tuesday, disrupting ground and air traffic.

Local transportation authorities said three expressway services linking Zhejiang provincial capital Hangzhou and its neighboring area such as Shanghai, Ningbo and Wenzhou were closed.

Abundant flights were delayed at Xiaoshan airport owing to low visibility, affecting thousands of passengers. More road accidents were reported than during normal days, according to the transportation authorities.

The fog also caused a collision between a Panama-registered cargo ship and a fishing vessel from east China's Fujian Province Thursday afternoon on the East China Sea. Some eight people fell into water in the accident, with four rescued and four others still missing.

The Zhejiang Provincial Meteorological Station said the visibility in some fog-covered areas in the province was less than 10 meters. The fog began Tuesday evening due to high humidity and warm airflow from a southwestern direction.

Pan Jinsong, deputy director of the meteorological station, said that the fog is expected to end Saturday morning but may come over again in the coming days.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2006)