DHAKA, Jan 8: Severe cold claimed at least 11 lives as severe cold gripped North-western and eastern parts of the country on Sunday. Sunday was the coldest day of the new year. Hundreds of thousands of people, including the old and disabled, as well as daily wage earners, suffered from the biting cold as temperature dropped suddenly in the last two days.

The cold weather, coupled with fog, badly disrupted vehicular and air traffic. A chopper carrying the prime minister towards Satkhira had to return to the capital due to fog.

The country’s lowest temperature was recorded at 10.3 degree Celsius in Jessore followed by 11 degrees in Ishwardi (Pabna), 11.6 degrees in Rajshahi, 12.4 degrees in Sylhet and 12.8 degrees in Khulna.

People in Dhaka were not spared either with the mercury dropping to 12.6 degrees. The country witnessed the lowest temperature this winter at 7.5 degrees in Srimangal on Dec 31, 2005. The lowest ever recorded temperature was 2.8 degrees in Srimangal of Sylhet way back in 1968.

The cold weather claimed at least 11 lives in Meherpur, Rangpur and Habiganj, according to reports reaching Dhaka. They said the worst sufferers are inhabitants of Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Nilphamari and the shoals of Kurigram districts.