Blizzards and heavy snowfall have closed roads, rail services and schools and forced the cancellations of hundreds of flights.

The unusually cold spell is being felt as far south as the Mediterranean.

The number of weather-related deaths rose to as many as 55 with 21 victims in Poland, most of them rough sleepers.

It triggered a warning from the World Health Organization that the poor, the homeless and migrants would be hardest hit by the big freeze.

“Those most at risk of cold-related illness include elderly people, children, and people who have chronic diseases or physical or mental limitations,” it said as a statement.

Where are the problems?

The weather system has been given various nicknames – in the UK it is “the Beast from the East” while the Dutch call it the “Siberian bear” and Swedes the “snow cannon”.

Snow has even appeared on the normally balmy beaches of the French Riviera.

Ireland remains braced for what is predicted to be its heaviest snowfall in decades as Storm Emma moves in from the south.

Flights in and out of Dublin airport were suspended with service disruptions expected to continue until Saturday at the earliest.

The airport in the Swiss city of Geneva was forced to shut down on Thursday morning but was reopened after the runway was cleared using snow ploughs.

In France, about 2,000 drivers were stranded on a motorway near the city of Montpellier, with some complaining of being stuck for as long as 24 hours.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was also hit by freezing winds with KLM airlines cancelling or delaying dozens of flights.

Some rail services operated by Eurostar between London, Paris and Brussels were axed.

Where have the deaths been?

As well as those in Poland, weather-related casualties were reported as far south as Spain and Italy.

Seven people have died since Sunday in Slovakia, AFP news agency reports, and six more in the Czech Republic in recent days.

One of three victims in Spain was a homeless man who had been sleeping in an abandoned truck, officials said.

Five people were reported dead in Lithuania, four in France, two each in Serbia, Italy, Slovenia and Romania and one each in the UK and the Netherlands, AFP added.

In the French capital, Paris, authorities set up emergency shelters for the city’s roughly 3,000 homeless.

What else is going on?

Ukraine, which has further snowstorms forecast in the days to come, has found itself in a fresh row with Russia over gas supplies.

The Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom said it would not restart gas shipments – expected on Thursday – because agreements had not been finalised. The shipments would have been the first from Russia since 2015.

Ukrainian energy agency Naftogaz accused Gazprom of violating contractual obligations and the European Commission later stepped in to act as a broker between the two.

Moscow and Kiev have been at loggerheads since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

What is the forecast?

Some parts of Europe are expected to see temperatures rise over the next couple of days, although Ireland and parts of southern England are braced for the effects of Storm Emma which is moving up from Portugal and France.

On Thursday, Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar urged people to stay indoors until the storm passed later on Friday.

“The risk to life and limb presented by the severe weather conditions should not be underestimated by anyone,” he said following a meeting with emergency officials. “It is not safe to be outside in such conditions.”

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Source: BBC

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Dozens of others might still be missing, the Spanish rescue charity Proactiva Open Arms said.

It is believed to be the first sinking of a migrant boat in the Mediterranean in 2018.

The sea crossing to Europe is the deadliest route in the world for migrants, the UN says.

Nearly 34,000 migrants have drowned or gone missing in the waters since 2000, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.

The German charity Sea-Watch said at least 25 people had died but numbers were still unclear. One of its boats was on the way to the scene north of Tripoli, it added.

Proactiva Open Arms said many of those rescued had spent hours in the water.

The coastguard said the partly submerged dinghy was spotted by a surveillance aircraft engaged in the EU’s Operation Sophia, which aims to intercept boats engaged in people smuggling.

“The search continues for survivors,” it added.

In 2017 nearly 3,000 migrants were believed to have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

On Friday, the EU’s border management agency, Frontex, said the numbers of migrants travelling to Europe illegally last year dropped 60% to 204,300.

The numbers travelling to Italy was 119,000 – 34% fewer than 2016, Frontex said.

The drop was due to improved border controls, the agency added.

The EU saw record levels of asylum seekers arriving in 2016 but the numbers have fallen since a deal with Turkey stemmed the influx of those crossing into Greece.

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Source: BBC

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It described the deaths – which can be prevented with vaccination – as an “unacceptable tragedy”.

A six-year-old boy in Italy was the latest to die from the infection. More than 3,300 measles cases have been recorded in the country.

The most fatalities – 31 – have been in Romania.
But there have also been deaths in Germany and Portugal since June 2016.

Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO regional director for Europe, said: “Every death or disability caused by this vaccine-preventable disease is an unacceptable tragedy.

“We are very concerned that although a safe, effective and affordable vaccine is available, measles remains a leading cause of death among children worldwide, and unfortunately Europe is not spared.

“I urge all endemic countries to take urgent measures to stop transmission of measles within their borders, and all countries that have already achieved this to keep up their guard and sustain high immunisation coverage.”
Measles is highly contagious, but vaccinating 95% of the population should prevent it spreading.

Germany is looking at tightening the law on immunisations.

And the government in Italy is pushing for children to be vaccinated against 12 common illnesses before they can enrol for state-run schools.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni blamed a decrease in vaccinations in part on a “spread of anti-scientific theories”.

A lingering false belief that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab causes autism is largely to blame, despite the claims being disproven and the doctor who made them being struck off.

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Source: BBC

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The body was found on a plane operated by Arik Air, one of Nigeria’s largest airlines, that had departed from the country’s commercial hub of Lagos and landed at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday evening.

“The lifeless body of a stowaway was on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 found in the main wheel well of one of Arik Air’s A330-200 aircraft,” Arik Air spokesperson Adebanji Ola said in a statement.

South African engineers “discovered the body of the stowaway during inspection,” the statement said.

In the past five years there have been reports of dead Nigerian stowaways found in planes travelling from Lagos to Johannesburg and New York who have frozen to death or have been crushed by a wheel.

Dire economic conditions force Nigerians to embark on risky trips in search of better lives abroad, with many attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe.

Nigerians have also been among the hundreds of illegal migrants intercepted off the Red Sea coast of oil-rich Saudi Arabia this year.

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Source: News 24

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