Severe Cold, Blizzards, Cause Deaths In Europe

Northern Advocate, 15 January 1940, Page 8

Severe Cold, Blizzards, Cause Deaths In Europe

LONDON, January 13. Europe is suffering from severe cold, with blizzards which have reached a velocity of 132 m.p.h. and temperatures falling ,as low as 42 degrees below zero. A blizzard which swept across the Balkan Peninsula for two days immobilised transport and broke all records for low temperatures. The fate of five snowed-up trains is not yet known. A German air liner, proceeding from Athens to Sofia, was blown off its course and landed at Belgrade. Girls Frozen to Death. Two high school girls in Sofia were found frozen to death near the city. A policeman in South Bulgaria escaped a pack of wolves only after shooting seven of them. The ice on the Danube is 14 inches thick. The temperature is 64 degrees below freezing point in Bessarabia, where there have been pitiful scenes. Many people have been frozen to death, and also many .are homeless through setting fire to their houses by overheating stoves. Railways are running skeleton services, although the oil trains, particularly’ those to Germany, continue. Frozen brakes caused one train to bolt, and four people were killed. Black Sea Tempest. A terrific tempest rages on the Black Sea. The Italian steamer Arabia (7025 tons) went aground at Constanza, where chipping is imprisoned by ice. • Two Greek ships are reported to be lost, and the Rumanian steamer Bucuresti (2499 tons) wirelessed that she is aground in Greek waters. The cold in Germany has caused many deaths. The coal shortage continues as temperatures touch 41 below freezing point. ' Too Cold for Work. Four thousand civil servants returned home as it was too cold for work. Other departments worked only two hours. An icy 100-miles-an-hour gale is sweeping the north of Italy. It hurled a goods train from a viaduct to the road below, killing the driver and many others, while hundreds of people were injured.

“Stay-in-London.”—A Health Ministry official minimised the “stay-in London” strike by employees of the Ministry. Of the 2750 who were instructed to go to Blackpool, 2640 arrived. Fifty were invalided and off duty, 25 resigned and 25 left to be married. Thus unexplained absences do not exceed a dozen.