Cold snap death toll passes 300

KIEV

Two people look at ice covered boats on the iced waterside promenade of Lake Geneva in Port Choiseul, Switzerland, Feb 5. A cold spell crept over Europe with temperatures plummeting far below zero, increasing the death toll to at least 306. AP photo

The deadly cold snap that has gripped Europe for more than a week wrought more havoc across the continent Feb. 5, pushing the death toll past 300.

French authorities Feb. 5 found the body of a homeless man who had frozen to death, bringing to at least 306 the number of cold-related deaths reported across Europe. Ukraine announced another nine deaths, bring their total to 131. The bitter cold front has crossed the Mediterranean into north Africa, where as many as 16 people were killed on Algeria’s weather-related accidents.

The Italian death toll reached 17. London’s Heathrow Airport cancelled half of Feb. 5’s 1,300 flights. In Romania, six new deaths brought the toll there to 34. The cold claimed eight new victims in Poland, bringing that country’s toll to 53, and it has recorded nine deaths in Serbia. In Bosnia, more than 100 remote villages have been cut off. The cold spell is forecast to last until at least the middle of the week.

Compiled from AFP and AP stories by the Daily News staff.