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Heavy snow strands 1,000 in Xinjiang airport

2010-01-09 16:02 BJT

Special Report: China fights snowstorms |

URUMQI, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow has stranded more than 1,000 passengers scheduled on seven flights since early Friday in an airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

A machine cleans snow on the road of Habahe County in Aletai, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 6, 2010. A blizzard hit Aletai on Wednesday and would be expected to stop by Jan. 6 according to local weather apartment. The area has seen continuous blizzard and sharp temperature drop since December in 2009, which leads to serious disasters in agriculture and livestock breeding.(Xinhua/Liu Xinhai)

A machine cleans snow on the road of Habahe County in Aletai, northwest
China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 6, 2010. A blizzard hit 
Aletai on Wednesday and would be expected to stop by Jan. 6 according 
to local weather apartment. The area has seen continuous blizzard and 
sharp temperature drop since December in 2009, which leads to serious 
disasters in agriculture and livestock breeding.(Xinhua/Liu Xinhai)

The Yining Airport of the Yining City in north Xinjiang's Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili was shut down in the morning as snow blanketed its runways, said an executive with the airport management.

The delayed flights, all scheduled to fly from Yining City to Urumqi, the regional capital, would not take off until early hours of Saturday, he said. "The airport is now busy cleaning the runways."

Yining reported a snowfall of eight centimeters on its road in the evening. It is still snowing heavily now.