Six dead in weather accidents as cold snap grips Europe

Paris: Freezing temperatures plunged swathes of Europe into a second day of travel chaos on Tuesday, with six people dying in weather-related accidents during the continent's bitterest cold snap this winter so far.

Since the mercury dropped on Monday, five people have died in France and one woman in Bosnia as heavy snow and rain sparked floods and power outages across the Balkans.

Paris's two main airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, were to cancel many flights early Wednesday to allow ground crews to clear snow from runways and de-ice planes.
Forty percent of morning flights at Charles de Gaulle were to be scrapped, and 25 percent at Orly.

In Britain, temperatures plunged to -12.5C overnight Monday-Tuesday in Norfolk, eastern England, while temperatures below -10C across the Netherlands brought trains to a standstill on Tuesday morning.

"Last night was the coldest night of the winter so far," Britain's Met Office said, with nearly all of the United Kingdom on alert for snow and ice and more snowfall expected.

With the chill making roads perilous, three people died in accidents linked to black ice in southwestern France on Monday morning, authorities said, while a taxi driver died in hospital on Monday night after his vehicle veered off the road and plunged into the Marne river in the Paris region. His passenger was still being treated for hypothermia, according to a police source. Another driver died east of Paris on Monday after colliding with a heavy goods vehicle.

Melanie Coligneaux, a pastry chef, said that she left her home in Beny-Bocage in northwestern France at 5:00am (0400 GMT) to avoid the worst of the snow-day traffic.

"The roads are bad, so we don't want to damage the car or even have an accident," the 30-year-old told AFP.

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, the Netherlands' main flight hub, meanwhile saw a second day of weather-driven cancellations Tuesday, with at least 600 flights grounded and travellers facing huge queues at the airline counters.

Dutch airline KLM, which is responsible for removing ice from most aircraft at Schiphol, warned that it had nearly run out of de-icing fluid, blaming the "extreme" weather conditions and supply delays.

Trains from the Dutch national railway operator NS only began rolling again after 10:00 am (0900 GMT), with services limited afterwards.

But planes got off the ground again from Liverpool in northwest England and Aberdeen in northeast Scotland, after the cold had forced both airports to close on Monday.

'Like climbing Mont Blanc'

After nearly 40 centimetres (16 inches) fell in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo at the weekend, a woman died in hospital after being hit by a tree that collapsed under the weight of the snow on Monday, according to the police.

Dozens of villages across neighbouring Serbia were left without power in the wake of the snowfall, while downpours caused several rivers to overflow in Bosnia and forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in Albania.

More than 300 schools were shut in Scotland Tuesday, the national BBC broadcaster reported, with Scottish train services also severely disrupted.

"Tuesday will bring more severe snow and ice to the north of Scotland -- and with it, continued travel disruption and risks to people and communities," Scottish transport minister Fiona Hyslop warned late on Monday.

Christopher Sallent, a resident of Saint-Jean-des-Essartiers in France's Normandy, said his children also had to stay at home as the school buses were not running.
"It's difficult, we have to adapt. When will the school buses start running again?

We don't know... We have to keep them at home and keep them occupied," the 33-year-old told AFPTV.

Several smaller French airports were closed on Tuesday, according to the transport ministry.

In the French capital, Monday's snowfall had settled overnight across much of Paris's pavements, with pedestrians forced to navigate treacherously icy streets.

Tour guide Valeria Pitchouguina said the sight of Paris snowed under was "truly extraordinary", but the ice was complicating efforts to shepherd her groups up the steep steps to the picture-postcard district of Montmartre.

"When it's like that and snowy and icy, it's something else, it's less like climbing Montmartre and more like climbing Mont Blanc," Pitchouguina told AFPTV.

Hungary meanwhile also braced for a second day of fresh snowfall Tuesday, with some roads and railways already impassable, especially in the northeast.

Construction and Transport Minister Janos Lazar urged Hungarians to only head out "if absolutely necessary".