The Italian capital Rome is paralyzed on Saturday after the heaviest snowfall in 27 years. Alberto Pizzoli / Andreas Solaro / Agence France-Presse

Plastic bottles with the bottoms cut are placed over flower bulbs to protect them from the frost near the sea shore in the Black Sea harbor of Constanta, Romania. Radu Sigheti / Reuters

People stroll past the frozen shore in the Black Sea harbor of Constanta, 250 km east of Bucharest, Romania. Radu Sigheti / Reuters

A resident clears snow from his car in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dado Ruvic / Reuters

A member of a local swimmers' club after getting out of the Vltava river in Prague, the Czech Republic. David W Cerny / Reuters

A man stands next to a car on the waterside promenade at the Lake Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland. Provided to China Daily

Weather wreaks havoc on travel across Europe with airports closed, flights and trains delayed, and highways gridlocked

ROME - The death toll from the vicious cold snap across Europe has risen to more than 260, with the winter misery set to hit thousands of those seeking to escape it on Sunday as air traffic was hit.

Ukraine has suffered the heaviest toll with 122 deaths, including many who froze to death in the streets as temperatures plunged to as low as -38.1 C.

Airports were shut, flights and trains delayed, and highways gridlocked as emergency services raced to clear falling snow.

London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest air passenger hub, canceled 30 percent of its flights on Sunday to cope with heavy snowfall overnight and possible freezing fog.

Heathrow said up to 10 cm of snow were expected to fall which, without reductions to the flight schedule, would cause major disruption at the west London airport.

"We deeply regret any disruption caused to passengers by the cold weather," said Heathrow's Chief Operating Officer Normand Boivin.

"Reducing the flight schedule means we can fly as many people as possible and return the airport to normal as quickly as possible."

The changes could affect around 400 flights at the world's busiest airport for international passengers.

In the Netherlands, Amsterdam-Schiphol airport reported dozens of delays and cancelations on Saturday.

In Italy, the poor weather also hit boat passengers, when the ferry Sharden hit a breakwater shortly after setting off from the port of Civitavecchia near Rome on Saturday.

The heaviest snowfall in 27 years in Rome caused the capital, better known for its warm sunshine, to grind to a halt with taxis and buses unable to navigate through the icy streets without snow chains.

In Poland, the death toll rose to 45 as temperatures reached -27 C in the north-east. In Romania, four more victims were found, bringing the number of fatalities in the country to 28.

The cold snap has also killed people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, France, Austria and Greece.

In France, snow fell from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south, though the west of the country and the capital Paris were spared.

A 12-year-old boy died in the eastern French city of Strasbourg when the ice broke as he played with a friend on a frozen pond, paramedics said.

His friend, 11, was in hospital being treated for hypothermia after plunging in to try to save him.

Snow fell in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the second straight day, paralyzing traffic, with one patient dying as an ambulance was unable to reach his village in the south of the country.

As Europe huddled indoors for warmth, Russian gas giant Gazprom said it could not satisfy Western Europe's demand for more energy.

"Gazprom at the moment cannot satisfy the additional volumes that our Western European partners are requesting," the company's Deputy Chairman Alexander Kruglov said at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to Russian news agencies.

Frigid temperatures even edged into North Africa, with the temperature forecast to drop below freezing in Algiers on Saturday night.

Steven Keates, a weather forecaster at Britain's Met Office, said the severe wintry conditions were expected to last, and spread to other areas.

"It will still be very cold, maybe not quite the exceptional temperatures we've seen this last week, but still very cold," he said, adding that the current front which brought snow and ice to Britain overnight was now heading to Belgium and Germany.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 02/06/2012 page10)