Beijing, Nov 18 (IANS): More than 1,200 ships were stranded in eastern China Friday due to heavy fog, an official said.
Parts of Jiangsu province were engulfed by heavy fog Friday morning, disrupting movement of ships on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
The waterway, which is more than 1,790 km long, is the oldest and longest canal in the world, Xinhua reported.
Visibility in the fog-hit parts of the canal was reduced to less than 50 meters adnd traffic had hence been halted, maritime official Wang Xuehong said. He added that over 1,200 ships were stranded in the canal Friday morning.
The meteorological centre in Yangzhou city issued an orange warning Thursday night, the second highest alert on a three-level scale, forecasting that fog would reduce visibility to less than 200 meters and would persist for the next few days.