KARACHI, March 19: A massive dust storm struck many parts of Sindh and Balochistan, particularly the coastal areas, on Monday, bringing down the visibility level to as low as 200 metres and disrupting domestic and international flight operations at various airports in the country’s southern region.

While several billboards, trees and some electric poles in the interior of Sindh toppled, plunging many areas into darkness, no loss of life was reported due to the dust storm that weathermen said was expected to continue till Tuesday noon.

The northwesterly dusty winds began to blow from Iran towards the coastal areas of Balochistan and Sindh due to a low air pressure here, they said.

The civil aviation authorities said none of the airports was closed. “Pilots are being informed about the visibility situation and it is up to them if they want to land or not,” said CAA spokesman Pervez George.

However, thousands of passengers were stranded at Karachi airport as at least half a dozen flights of the national flag carrier and private airlines were not allowed to fly. An international flight did not land here and returned to the Gulf, sources said. Earlier, they said, a Turbat-bound PIA flight coming from Sharjah was diverted to Karachi airport owing to poor visibility in Balochistan. The plane landed safely, they added.

The sources said that the six flights — PK 731, PK 334, PK 241, PK 257, PK 562 and Airblue flight 406 — were not allowed to take off due to poor visibility.

But at least two PIA flights (PK 309 and PK 267) did land.

During the dust storm, a tyre of a plane belonging to a recently launched airline burst upon landing at Karachi airport due to what was described as a malfunctioning of its auto-break system. The plane, carrying 100 passengers, was coming from Lahore.

At that time visibility was 300 metres.

An Emirates Airlines flight, however, after reviewing the situation did not land here and returned.

The sources said that the flights schedule had been disrupted since 5pm on Monday.

When the visibility at Karachi airport became less than 800 metres, which was the limit of landing equipment available at the airport, it should have been closed, the sources said. They explained that lesser visibility was a severe safety hazard for landing and take-off. Yet Karachi airport was not shut down, raising concerns over the air safety, they added.

Weather forecast

According to Met officials, due to low air pressure over the coastal areas of Sindh, including Karachi, and Balochistan, the air is being sucked in from the Iranian side where high pressure exists.

Humidity – or a measure of the amount of moisture in the air – which was around 65 per cent during the day dropped in the evening when the north westerly dusty winds began to blow and was recorded at just 10 per cent.

Normal visibility in the area around Karachi airport is between six and seven kilometres. On Monday it was 200 metres. The winds were blowing at a speed of 32 and 34 knots (63km/hr), while the normal wind speed at the airport is between 10 and 15 knots (28km/hr).

The officials said that minimum and maximum temperatures recorded on Monday were 21.5 and 32 degrees Celsius, respectively. They said that the minimum temperature on Tuesday was expected to remain between 21 and 22 degrees Celsius, while gusty winds with dust were expected to continue till Tuesday noon after which the situation was expected to become better.

Interior of Sindh

The dust storm also affected life in Sukkur, Ghotki, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore with an early closure of markets and power breakdowns.

Many signboards, trees and electric wires fell due to gusty winds, while traffic on roads also remained thin. The temperature dropped all of sudden after the dust storm hit Sukkur and neighbouring districts.

Some young boys were spotted at Lab-i-Mehran and Mohammad Bin Qasim Park predictably enjoying the change in weather.

In Khairpur, gusty winds continued to blow for two to three hours compelling residents of Kingri, Sobhodero, Gambat and other areas to remain indoors.

According to growers, dust and wind had affected the orchards of mango and date-palm.

Dadu and Jamshoro were also hit by power breakdowns. Public transport also remained off the road after the dust storm hit the district, causing inconvenience to passengers.Growers said that the dust storm had affected wheat crop whose harvesting had just started in Dadu and Jamshoro districts.