More than 2,000 passengers were stranded for the second day at an airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Monday due to lingering fog.

More than 70 flights arriving at or departing from the Urumqi International Airport in the regional capital have been canceled or delayed since Sunday, when a heavy fog settled into the city.

Visibility at the airport improved to 200 meters on Monday from 20 m Sunday, but that was still below the standard of 550 m and 800 m for take-off and landing, respectively.

More than 3,000 passengers were stranded on Sunday, although some had returned home or checked into hotels as of Monday. Others were being supplied with meals at the airport.

The fog is expected to dissipate in the afternoon and flights will resume when visibility improves sufficiently.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 10, 2007)