Heavy snowfalls and sub-zero temperatures across Europe have left more than 20 people dead and one of the continent's tallest waterfalls starting to freeze over.

The extreme winter weather across the continent has left villages cut off, caused power and water outages, frozen rivers and lakes, grounded flights and led to road accidents.

In Poland, 55 deaths have been linked to the cold weather since November 1, authorities said, with temperatures dropping to -30 degrees Celsius in the mountains of southern Poland in recent days.

Serbian authorities have banned river traffic on its stretch of the Danube — one of Europe's main rivers — because of ice and strong wind.

Aid workers said many of several hundred asylum seekers sheltering in an abandoned warehouse in the country's capital Belgrade were sick after a few days in extreme cold.

Heaters, blankets, clothes and food had been distributed by aid organisations, in an attempt to keep the men, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, warm.

"The next few days are critical, and for sure the health condition of these people is worsening," MSF Head of Mission in Serbia, Stephane Moissaing, said.

In Bulgaria, police said two men from Iraq and a Somali woman died from cold in the mountains near Turkey as they tried to make their way toward Europe and a passenger train derailed after it hit a pile of snow in the central part of the country.

Four Portuguese people were killed when a bus skidded on an icy road in eastern France, while black ice across northern and western Germany has caused countless accidents and injuries.

German federal police said they picked up 19 asylum seekers — including five children — at a highway stop in Bavaria, who were suffering from hypothermia after their driver disappeared and left them on the back of an unheated a truck for hours in the freezing cold.

But for hundreds of Muscovites, the fact that the temperature had plunged to -27 Celsius was no reason to avoid going for a group bicycle ride.

About 500 cyclists, many equipped with fur hats and other nonstandard gear, held a ride of about 8 kilometres along the Moscow River, as the capital shivered through a fierce cold snap.

In Italy, eight deaths have been blamed on the sub-freezing temperatures, including six homeless people.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis drew attention to the homeless and asked God to "warm our hearts so we'll help [the homeless]".

One man died in the basement of an unused building in Milan and another one on a street flanking Florence's Arno River.

The Marmore waterfall, known as one of the tallest in Europe, has started to freeze over with icicles hanging from below the falls.

Temperatures dropped to -5 degrees Celsius in the area, turning the falling water into long icicles.

The sight attracted many curious tourists and residents, who braved the cold to visit.

Some sections of the paths leading around the waterfall were closed, with ice on the ground making them dangerous. </s> A cold wave stretching across Europe has left at least two dozen people dead in the past two days, including several migrants and homeless people, with the frigid temperatures expected to continue.

Four Portuguese tourists were killed and about 20 others were injured Sunday when their bus crashed off an icy highway in central France before dawn on what is locally known as “the road of death.”

The 40-seat bus was on its way to Switzerland. According to authorities, it appeared that the driver lost control of the vehicle because of ice on the road.

Ten victims of the cold perished in Poland, where temperatures were as low as minus 14 degrees Celsius.

In Italy, the cold has been blamed for seven deaths, including five homeless people, two of them Polish nationals, authorities said.

Heavy snowfall in central and southeast Italy forced the closure of airports at Bari and Brindisi as well as in Sicily.

Prague’s emergency services reported three deaths — two homeless people and a parking lot guard.

Temperatures in Moscow fell to minus 30 degrees overnight and to minus 24 in St. Petersburg, where police found the body of a man who had died of hypothermia.

Meanwhile, a huge and heavily laden container ship narrowly missed the shore as it made its way through the Bosporus in Istanbul Saturday. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that the strait, one of Europe’s busiest shipping lanes, was closed with ferries being halted earlier in the day.

Heavy snow has crippled Istanbul, and national carrier Turkish Airlines canceled more than 650 flights.

Authorities expect the death toll to rise as weather conditions are set to remain unchanged through the coming days. </s> Visitors pose for a picture in front of the frozen Mirusha waterfalls near the village of Lapceve, Kosovo, Monday (AP photo)

WARSAW — A cold snap gripping Europe has killed more than 30 people in recent days, left thousands of travellers stranded in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for migrants and the homeless.

The double-digit sub-zero temperatures hit Poland particularly hard, with the mercury plummeting below minus 20°C in some regions.

Sunday was the country’s worst 24 hours so far for cold-related deaths.

“Yesterday, 10 people died of cold,” Poland’s centre for national security (RCB) said on Monday in a statement, adding to the same number of fatalities over the preceding two days combined.

The number of hypothermia victims has reached 65 since November 1, the centre added, and local authorities issued smog alerts across Poland amid a deep freeze on Monday.

Greece and Italy have also seen fierce cold weather over the past week and in both countries several migrants died of hypothermia.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey’s main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day while the Bosphorus Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping bottlenecks, was shut due to poor visibility.

Ferry services between the European and Asian sides of the city were scrapped and schools across the city closed.

Flagship carrier Turkish Airlines said 314 flights were cancelled on Monday, with CEO Bilal Eksi telling angry passengers that snow had caused a lack of take-off and landing slots at Ataturk Airport.

Some international flights were expected to resume after 6:00pm Monday, but all domestic flights to and from the airport had been scrapped. On a normal day, it can handle more than 1,500 landings and take-offs.

Eksi earlier said over 600 flights were cancelled on Sunday and more than 10,000 travellers unable to reach Istanbul had been put up in hotels worldwide.

In the Czech Republic, six people died during the weekend, very probably of hypothermia, four of them freezing to death in Prague, media reports said.

A 68-year-old homeless man was found frozen to death in the Macedonian capital Skopje while in Serbia, the southeastern town of Sjenica saw the mercury plunge to -33°C.

Traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers was halted in Serbia. Scores of migrants in the capital Belgrade took shelter in a warehouse near the railway station, spurning shelters provided by the government for fear they would be deported back to their countries.

“It’s very difficult, especially at night,” said Niamat, a 13-year-old Afghan. The temperature overnight was -15°C.

“I have been waiting here for three months and I do not know when I will be able to continue my journey,” said the young migrant, who is travelling alone.

Ismail, aged 16, added: “Nobody is helping us, it’s very cold and I’m worried how we will endure this.”

Schools were closed across cities in central Siberia on Monday but classes resumed in Moscow where the temperature rose by 7°C to -20°C.

The Russian capital recorded its coldest Orthodox Christmas Night for 120 years at the weekend, according to media reports.

Two people died of hypothermia in Moscow between December 31 and January 9, Russian news agencies reported.

Greece, with more than 60,000 mainly Syrian refugees on its territory, has moved many migrants to prefabricated houses and heated tents.

At the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos more than 2,500 people are living in tents, without hot water or heating, including women, children and the handicapped, said Apostolos Veizis from the charity Doctors Without Borders.

He said there were more than 300 people in a similar situation on the island of Samos.

In Italy, the cold snap claimed two more lives: an 82-year-old man who died in a house without heating near the southern city of Brindisi and a 78-year-old man in a village in northern Sicily. </s> WARSAW: A cold wave across Europe has left at least 20 people dead in the past two days, including several homeless and migrants, authorities said on Saturday, with the frigid temperatures expected to continue through the weekend.

Russia meanwhile celebrated the coldest Orthodox Christmas in 120 years, and Istanbul was covered with a blanket of snow.

Ten of the latest victims of the cold perished in Poland where sub-freezing conditions remain with minus 14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) forecast on Saturday.

"Seven people died on Friday in what was the deadliest day this winter," said spokeswoman Bozena Wysocka from the Polish government centre for security (RCB).

"We recorded three other victims the previous day," she said. "This takes to 53 the number of hypothermia victims since November 1."

In Italy in the past 48 hours the cold has been blamed for seven deaths, including five homeless people, two of them Polish nationals, authorities said.

There was heavy snowfall in central Italy and also in the southeast where the airports at Bari and Brindisi as well as in Sicily were closed on Saturday morning.

Temperatures in Moscow fell to minus 30 degrees overnight and to minus 24 in Saint Petersburg where police found the body of a man who had died of hypothermia.

And in Bulgaria on Friday the frozen bodies of two Iraqi migrants were discovered by villagers in a mountain forest in the southeast of the country near the border with Turkey.

Authorities expect the toll to rise as weather conditions are set to remain unchanged this weekend.

The winter snow storms reached Turkey, paralysing its biggest city Istanbul where hundreds of flights were cancelled on Saturday. Traffic through the Bosphorus strait was also disrupted.

20 die in cold snap across Europe was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 08, 2017 and was last updated on January 08, 2017. This news story is related to Print/177616-20-die-in-cold-snap-across-Europe/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "20 die in cold snap across Europe" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/177616-20-die-in-cold-snap-across-Europe. </s> WARSAW: A cold wave across Europe has left at least 23 dead in the past two days, including several migrants and homeless people, authorities said Saturday, with the frigid temperatures expected to continue through the weekend.

Russia meanwhile celebrated the coldest Orthodox Christmas in 120 years, and even Istanbul was covered with a blanket of snow.

Ten of the latest victims of the cold perished in Poland where temperatures were as low as minus 14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday.

"Seven people died on Friday in what was the deadliest day this winter," said spokeswoman Bozena Wysocka from the Polish government centre for security (RCB).

"We recorded three other victims the previous day," she said. "This takes to 53 the number of hypothermia victims since November 1."

In Italy in the past 48 hours the cold has been blamed for seven deaths, including five homeless people, two of them Polish nationals, authorities said.

There was heavy snowfall in central Italy and also in the southeast where the airports at Bari and Brindisi as well as in Sicily were closed Saturday morning.

Prague´s emergency services reported three deaths -- two homeless people and a parking lot guard -- overnight in the Czech capital, the coldest night so far this winter.

Temperatures in Moscow fell to minus 30 degrees overnight and to minus 24 in Saint Petersburg where police found the body of a man who had died of hypothermia.

And in Bulgaria on Friday the frozen bodies of two Iraqi migrants were discovered by villagers in a mountain forest in the southeast of the country near the border with Turkey.

Authorities expect the toll to rise as weather conditions are set to remain unchanged this weekend

At least 23 people die in cold snap across Europe was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 08, 2017 and was last updated on January 08, 2017. This news story is related to Latest/177488-At-least-23-people-die-in-cold-snap-across-Europe/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "At least 23 people die in cold snap across Europe" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/177488-At-least-23-people-die-in-cold-snap-across-Europe. </s> WARSAW: A cold snap gripping Europe has killed 10 more people in Poland, stranded thousands in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for both migrants and the homeless.

Double-digit sub-zero temperatures have claimed more than 30 lives over the past few days, many of them migrants or homeless people found frozen to death.

Sunday was the deadliest day this winter for cold-related deaths in Poland, where temperatures have plunged to below minus 20 degrees Celsius in some regions. "Yesterday, 10 people died of cold," Poland´s centre for national security (RCB) said Monday in a statement, adding that "the number of hypothermia victims has reached 65," since November 1.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey´s main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day with the Bosphorus Strait closed to ships and hundreds of flights cancelled.

Deaths, travel chaos in Europe cold snap was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 10, 2017 and was last updated on January 10, 2017. This news story is related to Print/178053-Deaths-travel-chaos-in-Europe-cold-snap/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Deaths, travel chaos in Europe cold snap" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/178053-Deaths-travel-chaos-in-Europe-cold-snap. </s> Blizzards and dangerously low temperatures persisted in parts of Europe on Sunday, prompting Pope Francis to draw attention to the homeless suffering in freezing weather. In Serbia, aid workers scrambled to help hundreds of migrants sleeping rough in parks and makeshift shelters.

The extreme winter weather that has gripped Europe in the past days has caused more than a dozen deaths, left villages cut off, caused power and water outages, frozen rivers and lakes, grounded flights and led to road accidents. Serbia’s authorities on Sunday banned river traffic on its stretch of the Danube — one of Europe’s main rivers — because of ice and strong wind.

Two men died of cold in Poland on Saturday, bringing the nation’s death toll from winter weather to 55 since Nov. 1, authorities said Sunday. Temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) in the mountains of southern Poland.

In Italy, eight deaths were blamed on the cold, including a man who died in the basement of an unused building in Milan, and another one on a street flanking Florence’s Arno River. Francis asked God to “warm our hearts so we’ll help” the homeless.

In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, several hundred men, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, remained in an abandoned customs warehouse by the city’s bus station, where aid organizations distributed heaters, blankets, clothes and food in an attempt to keep them warm.

“We are all working together to help these people,” Mirjana Milenkovski, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, said.

While most of the several thousand migrants in Serbia have stayed in the Balkan country’s asylum centers, hundreds have refused to do so, looking for ways to move on toward Western Europe.

In neighboring Bulgaria, police said two men from Iraq and a Somali woman died from cold in the mountains near Turkey as they tried to make their way toward Europe. Many in the Belgrade warehouse were sick after few days in extreme cold, aid workers said.

“The next few days are critical, and for sure the health condition of these people is worsening,” said Stephane Moissaing, MSF head of mission in Serbia.

German federal police said Sunday they picked up 19 migrants — including five children — at a highway stop in Bavaria who were suffering from hypothermia after their driver disappeared and left them on the back of an unheated a truck for hours in the freezing cold.

Elsewhere, emergency measures were declared in several municipalities in Serbia’s south and southwest. Dozens of villages in Serbia’s remote Pestar region were sealed off by heavy snow, prompting the evacuation of some 100 people by emergency crews. Authorities said 70 km of water pipes there were frozen.

Numerous villages in northern Bulgaria also were left without electricity and water. Power outages were also reported throughout the region.

Polar temperatures of between minus 15 and minus 26 degrees Celsius (5 and minus 15 Fahrenheit) saw ice forming on the Adriatic sea and the Danube, while countless smaller rivers, lakes and ponds froze.

Montenegro’s port of Bar in southern Adriatic closed down on Saturday, while sea traffic was suspended for days in neighboring Croatia.

Police in Bulgaria said a passenger train was derailed Sunday after it hit a pile of snow in the central part of the country. Snow fell on Istanbul for the third straight day, and Turkish Airlines grounded hundreds of flights in and out of the city’s two airports.

A dozen major roads remained closed in Romania due to heavy snow and some ferry services between Romania and Bulgaria across the Danube were canceled. Authorities said schools would be closed Monday and Tuesday in many areas, including in the capital, Bucharest.

Four Portuguese nationals were killed when a bus skidded on an icy road in eastern France early Sunday. The road is notorious for fatal accidents.

Black ice across northern and western Germany has caused countless accidents and injuries — firefighters in the city of Hamburg said Sunday they were called to weather-related accidents 415 times during the weekend.

Near Hannover, one person died in a car accident when his car skidded against a tree on an icy road, German news agency dpa reported. City authorities shut down the public transportation system and across the country, people were asked to wait out the severe weather conditions at home.

For hundreds of Muscovites, however, the fact that the temperature had plunged to minus-27 Celsius (minus 17 Fahrenheit) was no reason to avoid going for a group bicycle ride. About 500 cyclists, many equipped with fur hats and other nonstandard gear, held a ride of about eight kilometers (five miles) along the Moscow River on Sunday as the capital shivered through a fierce cold snap.

German federal police say that they found 19 migrants at a highway stop in Bavaria who were suffering from hypothermia after their driver disappeared and left them in the back of an unheated truck for hours.

Temperatures were hovering around minus 20 C (-4 F).

Police spokesman Rainer Scharf said Sunday that the migrants, among them five children, eventually asked people at the highway stop near Brannenburg for help and they then called police.

Scharf said the migrants, who got on the truck in Italy, didn’t carry papers but said they came from Syria, Iraq and Iran. They paid traffickers between €500 and €800 ($525-840) per person and had come to Germany to apply for asylum. They told police the truck had been experiencing engine problems before the driver left. </s> WARSAW
• A cold snap gripping Europe has killed 10 more people in Poland, stranded thousands in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for both migrants and the homeless.

Double-digit sub-zero temperatures have claimed more than 30 lives over the past few days, many of them migrants or homeless people found frozen to death.

Sunday was the deadliest day this winter for cold-related deaths in Poland, where temperatures have plunged to below minus 20 deg C in some regions.

On Sunday, 10 people died of cold, Poland's centre for national security said yesterday in a statement, adding that "the number of hypothermia victims has reached 65" since Nov 1.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey's main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day, with the Bosporus closed to ships and hundreds of flights cancelled.

Traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers was halted in Serbia. Scores of migrants in the capital Belgrade took shelter in a warehouse, spurning shelters provided by the government for fear they would be deported back to their countries.

Schools were closed across cities in central Siberia yesterday, but classes resumed in Moscow where the temperature rose by seven degrees to minus 20 deg C.

Greece and Italy have also seen fierce cold weather over the past week and several migrants there have died of hypothermia. </s> LONDON (AFP) - A powerful winter storm battered Europe on Friday (Jan 13), killing one woman and leaving 330,000 homes without power in France as flights and train services were cancelled and coastal areas put on flood alert.

Britain issued nearly a dozen severe flood warnings, meaning there was a risk of severe flooding and danger to life, and urged thousands of people to evacuate their homes in several seaside communities.

The storm, officially named Egon, also battered Belgium and Germany, where the key international hub of Frankfurt airport cancelled 120 flights, according to German media.

Eurostar cancelled two trains between London and Paris, while 180 passengers were forced to spend a chilly night on a high-speed Thalys train from Brussels to the French capital that finally arrived 10 hours late.

"We stopped on the tracks at around 9pm," said Eduardo Soteras, a passenger on the train.

"At first we had electricity, but then it cut. We found ourselves in the dark without heating." .

In France, a woman was killed by a falling tree in her garden in a village near the Mediterranean resort of Nice, while another woman in Albania was found dead on Thursday outside her home in the southern town of Saranda.

"She died in front of her children. Her husband immediately tried to help by cutting the tree but it was too late," a French police official said of the death there.

The rose window of a famous Gothic cathedral in Soissons in northern France was also badly damaged.

Winds of up to 146 km an hour hit France's Channel port of Dieppe overnight, while parts of Germany were bracing for up to 30cm of snow on Friday, according to German weather officials.

Since the end of last week, a winter cold snap across Europe has killed more than 60 people, with homeless people and migrants stranded in countries like Greece and Serbia most at risk.

"Severe winter weather struck southeastern Europe, with extreme cold and snow in Italy, the Balkans and Turkey. This caused many accidents on roads, school closures, cancelled flights and hardship for the homeless and refugees," the UN weather agency said.

The World Meteorological Organisation said in a statement that the high-pressure weather system was "moving slowly eastwards over Europe".

Flood warnings were put in place for much of England's east coast, while in the Netherlands pumps were used to lower water levels in Amsterdam and surrounding areas, according to Dutch news agency ANP.

Thousands of residents in Skegness in eastern England were urged to leave their homes or move to upper floors, while further south villagers in Jaywick were also warned to evacuate ahead of high tide.

Temporary shelters were set up for local residents, but some appeared reluctant to leave.

"While I know the police are putting on extra patrols, they can't cover the whole area the whole time," Jaywick resident Rebecca Kenny, 31, told the Press Association news agency.

"With the security risk, I don't really want to leave the house," she said.

Some 100 soldiers were standing by in Skegness to help out and the Royal Air Force is checking for damage.

"Our absolute priority is protecting lives, homes and businesses from the threat of coastal flooding currently facing the east coast," floods minister Therese Coffey said.

"That is why we have soldiers on the ground helping to warn and evacuate people alongside the emergency services and environment agency teams, who are putting up temporary defences," she said.

The storm brought the first snowfall of the year to the British capital, prompting the usual mix of excitement and frustration from Londoners on social media.
Dozens of people die in eastern Europe and Italy in recent days as a result of a cold snap with cancelled flights, frozen rivers, and traffic accidents.