Thousands trapped as eastern Europe freezes!
LONDON, England - February 3, 2012 - Thousands of people are trapped in snow-blocked villages in Serbia and the freezing weather has caused a 20-car pile-up in Italy.
Severe cold spells have gripped eastern Europe, forcing officials to airlift emergency food and medical supplies to some areas as the number of dead rose past 120.
At least 11,000 villagers remain trapped in remote areas of Serbia that cannot be reached because of icy roads, with temperatures sinking below -30C in some areas.
Some 34 people were injured in the car crash in a Milan road tunnel. Incredibly, no one was killed.
But there are 20 newly reported deaths from the cold in Ukraine, another nine people have died in Poland, eight are dead in Romania, and one more each in Serbia and the Czech Republic. Most were homeless people.
European weather alert network Meteoalarm warned of "extremely dangerous" conditions, and many hundreds of schools have been closed across the region.
Authorities are warning people to prepare for a further drop in temperatures next week.
The weather is affecting gas supplies, with Russia's Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas imports, getting more requests for exports than it can cope with because of increased demand at home.
Parts of the Black Sea near the Romanian coastline froze, and snow fell on Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea.
In Bulgaria, 16 towns have recorded their lowest temperatures since records started 100 years ago. In Sofia, cash machines were reported to have frozen.
