Heavy snow has forced Yining Airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to close and cancel flights since Thursday morning. Nearly 700 passengers were stranded.

The airport operation center said the snow began at around 8:00 AM and the runways were closed at around 9:00 AM when testing showed runways were too slick to safely operate planes.

Flight GS7483 heading to Yining from Urumqi, capital of the autonomous region, was forced to return after taking off.

Ten flights were delayed by the snow. By 7:00 PM, Yining Airporthad not been re-opened.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2008)