A woman looks out a bus in Bucharest on February 2, 2012. (Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press)
At least 221 people have died during a cold snap in which temperatures have plummeted to minus 30 degrees and below across eastern Europe, with Ukraine the hardest hit.
The cold has killed 101 people in Ukraine, many of whom lived on the streets. Officials have ordered hospitals to stop discharging homeless patients after they are treated for hypothermia and frostbite, while authorities have set up nearly 3000 heating and food shelters to help people survive.
The week-long cold spell, eastern Europe's worst in decades, is causing power cuts, frozen water pipes and the widespread closure of schools, nurseries, airports and bus routes.
An energy crisis is looming as Russian gas supplies to some states dwindle by up to 30 per cent. Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Italy are the worst affected.
On Friday the Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom said it was sending as much gas as it could spare to Europe, and that Ukraine, whose pipelines carry Russian gas to the EU, must be taking more than its contracted share. Kiev has flatly denied doing so.
The European Commission put its gas co-ordination committee on alert, but said it was not yet an emergency.
The cold spell has killed 24 people in Romania, 17 in Poland, 11 in the Czech Republic, at least two in Slovakia and one each in France and Germany. In Russia, officials said more than 64 people died of hypothermia in January. In Moscow, temperatures were below minus 15 degrees for a third week running.
Rome experienced a rare snowfall on Friday, prompting officials to close the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill to prevent tourists slipping and falling. Northern Italy is gripped by snow and ice that is disrupting train travel.
SOURCE: Guardian
