Thick fog blanketed northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Saturday, stranding about 3,800 passengers in the region's major airport.

The Urumqi International Airport in the regional capital was covered in fog in the morning, delaying 53 outgoing flights and 26 incoming ones.

The visibility was reduced to 200 meters, far below the minimum 500 meters required for take off, according to Xinjiang Airport Group (XAG).

Some of the flights have taken off as fog started to disperse in the afternoon, but the backlog would not be cleared until 5:00 AM on Sunday, the XAG said.

Downtown Urumqi was still covered by fog as of 7:00 PM.

This has been the second time flights are delayed in the airport within a month. It saw heavy fog which reduced the visibility to 50 meters on January 17 and 18. About 6,000 passengers were stranded.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2009)