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Deaths, travel chaos in Europe cold snap
By Stanislaw WASZAK
Warsaw (AFP) Jan 9, 2017


Flights scrapped, Bosphorus closed as snow blankets Istanbul
Istanbul (AFP) Jan 9, 2017 - Heavy snowfall in Istanbul paralysed traffic and grounded hundreds of flights for a third straight day Monday, while the Bosphorus closed to shipping traffic.

In freezing temperatures and heavy winds, the Bosphorus, one of the world's busiest shipping bottlenecks, shut due to poor visibility, Turkish coastguards said.

All passenger ferry services, popular with commuters between the Asian and European side of Turkey's largest city, were also cancelled.

Schools were shut across the city and were to remain closed Tuesday, the city's governor's office announced.

In the deepest snowfall since 2015, hundreds of flights have been cancelled over the last three days, stranding thousands of international passengers in Istanbul.

An official from Turkey's flagship carrier Turkish Airlines said that 314 flights had been cancelled on Monday.

On a normal day, the airport can accommodate over 1,500 landings and take-offs.

Some international flights were expected to resume after 6pm (1500 GMT), but all domestic flights to and from Ataturk airport had been scrapped.

Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi told angry stranded travellers the problems were due to a lack of take-off and landing slots at Ataturk in the snowy conditions.

- 'Revenues dropped by half'-

Over 10,000 travellers unable to reach Istanbul had been accommodated in hotels worldwide, while well over 5,000 who could not leave were put up in the city, Eksi said.

Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus also cancelled 74 domestic and international flights on Monday.

The Istanbul municipality meanwhile sent over 1,300 vehicles and 7,000 personnel into the streets to clear the snow.

The cold snap was provoking economic blues for some in the country's largest city.

"The weather has had a bad effect on business," grumbled 22-year-old barista Ahmet Burak, who works at a coffee shop near the city's iconic Taksim square.

He said people attending a nearby theatre usually dropped in for a cup but "the plays were cancelled due to snow, so our revenues dropped by half."

But as youngsters engaged in snowball fights, Ibrahim Inceoglu, a property dealer in Taksim square, scoffed at Istanbul locals who he said were "scared of snow".

"Had it snowed here just like in southeast Anatolia, the people of Istanbul would really starve," he said.

"I don't see the problem. The main transport routes are open, life should continue as normal," he said.

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 (minus 4 Fahrenheit) 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.

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

Flagship carrier Turkish Airlines said only 292 departures from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were expected on Monday.

On a normal day, the airport can accommodate over 1,500 landings and take-offs.

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

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 degrees Celsius.

- 'Nobody is helping us ' -

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 degrees Celsius.

"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 seven degrees to -20 degrees Celsius.

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

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

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

On the island of Moria, there are "more than 2,500 people living in tents, without hot water or heating, including women, children and handicapped people," 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.

burs-ach/ric/mt

TURKISH AIRLINES - TURK HAVA YOLLARI AO


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Previous Report
WHITE OUT
At least 23 people die in cold snap across Europe
Warsaw (AFP) Jan 7, 2017
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 peris ... read more


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