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Freezing conditions worsen as Chinese travel home for Spring Festival

2010-02-11 15:18 BJT

JINAN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Worsening snow and freezing conditions have forced more airports and highways in northern China regions to close on Thursday, two days ahead of China's Spring Festival.

Millions of travellers already on the road hope to arrive home before the eve of Chinese New Year on Saturday.

However, the Central Meteorological Station forecast that blizzards would hit more areas on Thursday, affecting nine provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in northern, western and eastern regions.

It said the cold snap would continue for the next three days.

Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui, had to close its airport as well as 95 percent of long-distance coach services on Thursday morning, as the overnight snow turned to ice making the runways and roads hazardous.

The communications authorities said bus terminals had turned on heating and had hot drinking water for more than 3,000 stranded passengers.

In north China's Shanxi Province, police helped out by using their vehicles to escort passenger buses along sections of closed highways, so people could return home for the festival.

The heavy snow which started Tuesday night had closed six expressways in the province, halting interprovincial bus services and stranding thousands of passengers at a coach terminal in the provincial capital of Taiyuan on Wednesday.

"I always prefer going by bus than train, 'cause trains are very crowded and slow, " said Yan Jing, a passenger who finally gave up waiting at the stranded coach terminal and headed to the city's railway station to try her luck on Wednesday like thousands of others.

Some coach services in Jinnan, capital of Shandong, were closed too.

"Bus traffic would be reduced on Thursday due to the heavy snow," said Zhang Zihua, spokeswoman for Jinan Coach Station.

She said bus services in Jinan had 240,000 passengers on Wednesday, which was almost the stations' maximum capacity.

She said all major highways in the province were closed on Thursday. Some long-distance bus services in the province were still operating however, as they took alternative routes to reach their destinations.

In northeast China's Liaoning, an ice-breaker failed on Wednesday to open a waterway to Juhua island, where sea ferry services have been disrupted by sea icing since Dec. 31.

The island with a population of 3,200 is the largest one in Liaodong Bay, and is separated by a 7.5-km gulf from Xingcheng City, Liaoning. The island has drinking water and the residents had previously prepared food for the winter.

The local authorities had hoped to send food and necessities to the islanders before the Spring Festival. But there was no ice breaker available that could get through the ice.

The country's only ice breaking vessel that could do the job, the Snow Dragon, is being used for an Antarctica exploration .

The provincial marine and fishery department said that the sea ice in Liaodong Bay, the worst in 40 years, was still developing.

Editor: Liu Anqi | Source: Xinhua