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Istanbul airport closed due to heavy snowfall

Xinhua, February 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Heavy snowfall has forced Istanbul's busiest international Ataturk Airport to ground flights on Wednesday.

Since early hours in the day, airplanes were not allowed to take off from and to land at Ataturk airports, while some flights were redirected to land at nearby airports. The Ataturk airport re-opened after a brief shut-down.

Turkish Airlines said it has cancelled more than 300 flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

A cold snap from Siberian roared through Istanbul since Tuesday afternoon, causing excessive amount of snowfall. The height of snow reached 20 cm at the center of the city while in the suburbs it hit 60.

The extreme weather has also halted land transportation in the city.

Istanbul's main highway TEM closed due to the heavy snow fall and icing. Traffic at Istanbul's two bridges linking Asia and Europe over the Bosphorus Strait was also interrupted.

More than 800 traffic accidents happened during the last 24 hours. In three separate chain accidents a total of 35 vehicles collided. One people died, while ten others injured.

The city officials said they have used 15,000 tons of salt to keep the roads open.

Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas described the situation in the city as state of emergency.

"Due to the deteriorated weather conditions we ask our citizen not to use their private vehicles and prefer the mass transportation," he said told a press conference.

Topbas also warned residents not to go outside unless obligatory.

Schools across the city, including universities, have been closed for one day. Endit