Europe News

At least eight deaths in snow and extreme cold across Europe

Dec 1, 2010, 13:26 GMT

Snowdrifts across a road in Ahrendnboek, Germany, 01 December 2010. The German Meteorological Service warns of an upcomming low-pressure area arriving the north of Germany with snow and storms in the evening of 01 December 2010. EPA/Daniel Friedrichs

Warsaw/Berlin - Snow and sub-zero temperatures in parts of Europe claimed at least eight lives and continued to disrupted air, road and rail travel Wednesday.

Eight people have frozen to death in Poland since Monday, police in Warsaw said. The victims were men aged between 33 and 72, police said. Poland experienced the first snowfall at the weekend.

Gatwick Airport near London, Edinburgh Airport in Scotland, and Geneva Airport in Switzerland were closed due to snow on runways Wednesday.

In southern England, 400 trucks were stuck on an iced-over motorway, while hundreds of schools were closed.

Rail links were also cut, forcing thousands of London commuters to stay at home.

Runways at most airports in Germany were de-iced, allowing them to operate.

But high winds forced the closure at intervals of one of Frankfurt Airport's three runways. At least 22 arrivals and 17 departures at the airport were cancelled as a knock-on effect of weather disruption elsewhere.

   The closure of the international airport in Geneva, initially until early afternoon, left hundreds of travellers stranded, Swiss authorities said. Snow ploughs were working to de-ice the runways.

   Geneva had 20 centimetres of snow the previous day, and 15 centimetres was forecast for Wednesday. The snow also disrupted train and bus services.

The winter began with a vengeance this week in Europe, with sub- zero temperatures reported in most

In the German capital Berlin, the overnight temperature dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius. Several centimetres of snow covered the Baltic coast and much of the east of the country.