Winter storms that swept across Europe have claimed six lives in Spain's Pyrenees mountains and at least eight in a shipwreck off Turkey's southern coast, with dozens of others frozen to death in eastern Europe.
At least six winter sports enthusiasts were killed over the weekend in Spain's Pyrenees mountains, which mark the country's border with France, and five others were still missing today.
Spain's meteorological service warned that heavy snowfall and avalanches were likely at altitudes of more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) in the central part of the Pyrenees range, urging skiers and hikers to use extra caution.
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Glasgow conditions over Christmas break. |
Off Turkey's southern coast, rescuers plucked one survivor from rough seas on Tuesday, 30 hours after a cargo ship packed with would-be immigrants ran into a reef in stormy weather and broke in two.
The death toll from the accident rose to eight Tuesday, with up to 50 others feared dead, officials said. On Monday, 32 people were rescued.
But rescue efforts were halted when poor weather kept navy divers from reaching the ship's front section and cargo hold, where the immigrants were thought to be trapped.
The ship should have only been carrying a crew of 10, but survivors said there were about 80 immigrants aboard, believed to be mainly from South Asia.
In Britain, a woman was killed and at least one other person was seriously injured after a mudslide sent cars tumbling 12 meters down a cliff over the edge of a coastal road, emergency services said.
Rescuers were using heat-seeking equipment to look for survivors in the tons of mud and earth at the base of the cliff, in Nefyn on the northwest coast of Wales.
An emergency services spokesman said that heavy rainfall following an unusual cold snap over the Christmas holiday was likely to have contributed to the accident.
Seven cars were swept down part of the 60-meter cliff, said a spokesman for the local coast guard.
In other parts of Britain, milder temperatures caused flooding, with warnings issued in 30 locations in central, southern and southwestern England.
Cold weather has claimed 28 lives in the past 10 days in Poland, police said Tuesday. Most of the victims were middle-aged men who died of hypothermia after drinking too much alcohol, a police spokesman said.
In Moscow, nearly 80 people have died since the start of the winter. Most of them were homeless and froze to death because of the lack of adequate emergency shelters.
About 30,000 homes in Sweden, mainly in the southwest part of the country, were still without electricity today, several days after heavy snows downed power lines, authorities said.
The wintry storms also wreaked havoc on road and rail travel, with many trains cancelled and replaced with emergency bus service.
In France, workers were preparing to blow up a 500-tonne rock formation overhanging the Giraude road tunnel linking France to Italy.
Authorities forced some 300 residents of the southeastern French town of Menton to leave their homes on Monday, amid fears that the rock could crash down on parts of the town.
AFP