HEAVY GALES IN EUROPE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28481, 10 January 1958, Page 11

HEAVY GALES IN EUROPE

Brand New Ship Founders (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright > THE HAGUE, January 8. Two bodies picked up by the Dutch tug Holland west of Texel yesterday were identified today as crewmen of the 499-ton coaster Capella. The Capella, a brand new ship, is presumed to have foundered with her crew of nine in the heavy gales in the North Sea yesterday.

Two more are known to have died in the storm over Holland. A watchman in Blokzijl, cycling home, was blown into a canal and drowned.

Another person was blown into a canal in Gouda and drowned.

Blizzards and 100-miles-an-hour ice winds howled through many other parts of Central Europe today, causing extensive damage and sending the mercury tumbling. For the first time in decades, winds reached 168 m.p.h. on top of the Zugspitze in West Germany, near the Austrian border.

Skiers welcomed the heavy snowfall in Western Austria, where troops last week were forced to transport snow to “green” winter sport centres. Up to 15 inches of snow fell in the Swiss Alps. Hurricane-force winds up to 90 m.p.h. in Czechoslovakia swept snow from mountain peaks into valleys, causing giant drifts. Telephone links were cut and road conditions were reported bad. In West Germany, gales yesterday which caused considerable damage were followed today by a heavy snowfall. Still colder weather is predicted. In Oslo and south-east Norway a swirling blizzard blocked roads just cleared from Monday’s first heavy snowfall of the season. The mercury at Karasjok, Northern Norway, read minus 45.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Storms which have swept France for three days caused a landslide today which blocked the main road from Grenoble to the winter sports centre of Vai d’lsere. It is expected to take two days to clear.

At Saint-Void, in east France, a power station worker was killed when wind swept him off a platform. In Normandy, a man walking along a canal bank was blown into the water and drowned. In Weilheim, south Germany, five were killed today, incluuing both pilots, when two American Super-sabre jet fighters crashed into a mountainside in a snowstorm.

“EMPIRE WINTER GAMES” Two New Zealanders To Compete

ST.' MORITZ (Switzerland), January 8. Two New Zealand skiing enthusiasts, Bill Hunt and Robin Chaffey, will compete in the unofficial Commonwealth Winter Games, which will start tomorrow.

Hunt, who did well in the Alpine slalom yesterday, captained the successful New Zealand team at the inter-Dominion meeting in Victoria last year. He has an excellent chance of finishing well up in the list tomorrow.

Three young Australians will also compete. They are Jon Brockhoff, 23, Robin Rockman, 21, and Leon Fink. 21, all of Melbourne. Brockhoff and Rockman have raced in Australia and Europe, but this is the first time Fink has competed outside Australia. Competitors from 12 Commonwealth countries have so far entered for the games. Further entries are expected, since they are accepted up to the start of each event.