Snow continues to disrupt services in southern Scandinavia

Feb 23, 2007, 11:51 GMT

Copenhagen/Stockholm - Drifting snow on Friday continued to generate problems for motorists for the second day running and disrupted plane and train services in Denmark and southern Sweden.

An expecting mother early Friday delivered her baby in an ambulance that due to the difficult road conditions could not arrive in time at a hospital in Nibe, northern Denmark.

It was the second such birth in as many days in northern Jutland, emergency services provider Falck told Danish news agency Ritzau.

Scandinavian Airlines said at least 78 flights were cancelled Friday from Copenhagen's Kastrup airport, and passengers were advised to be prepared for delays. On Thursday the carrier had to cancel 168 flights.

Danish police advised people to stay at home due to the poor road conditions. Scores of schools were closed.

Early Friday a driver who was salting the roads was killed when his truck hit another truck near Svendborg, central Denmark.

Strong winds created several metre-high snowdrifts. Similar warnings were issued for south-western Sweden by police and the Swedish Road Administration.

Dozens of traffic accidents were registered overnight in southern Sweden but there were no fatalities.

Local train services were also dispruted.

In southern Norway, snow ploughs cleared the E18 motorway between the towns of Kristianstad and Grimstad where several hundred motorists were stranded for hours Thursday.

An 18-year-old girl died Thursday after suffocating in a deep snow pile. She had apparently jumped from a balcony, police told local newspaper Agderposten.

Dozens of schools in the area were Friday closed over the snowfall.