Warsaw: Europe's vicious cold snap has
claimed 62 lives in Poland, with nine new victims in the past
24 hours, police said on Monday.
With overnight temperatures plunging to minus 24 degrees
Celsius in some parts of the country, the majority of the
victims were homeless, often drunk.
In a bid to save lives, Poland's homeless shelters have
dropped a ban on drunken individuals.
Overall, 107 people have died of hypothermia in Poland
since winter hit in November. The current cold snap began at
the end of January.
In neighbouring Lithuania, where the mercury has plunged
to minus 31 Celsius, the deaths of six more people over the
weekend brought the cold snap's toll to 17.
In the Czech Republic, police said a homeless man was
found dead in the eastern city of Brno, lifting that country's
toll to 18.
In Kvilda, near the Czech-German border, the temperature
hit minus 39.4 Celsius, the lowest recorded in the country
this winter.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 06, 2012, 18:53