Deaths Reported in Mexico Cold Snap

Deaths Reported in Mexico Cold Snap

Jan 3, 6:41 PM (ET)
By MARK STEVENSON

MEXICO CITY (AP) - A cold snap has brought freezing temperatures, unusual snows and heavy rains to Mexico and Central America, and authorities said the weather may be to blame for several deaths.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday that the bodies of four people had been found on city streets since Wednesday, including one who died from pneumonia. Officials were investigating whether the other three deaths were also caused by the weather.

Another man was found dead of pneumonia in a vacant lot in Guadalajara.

Temperatures dropped to 23 degrees in central Puebla state, where residents woke to snow-covered mountains and authorities opened more than 100 shelters.

Snow is not uncommon at very high altitudes in Mexico during the winter, but this week's cold front brought frost and light snow to towns that normally don't see such weather. In the capital, residents accustomed to 80-degree afternoons bundled up in temperatures as low as 32.

The front also brought heavy rains, high winds and pounding waves to Central America. In Honduras, a 65-year-old woman drowned trying to cross a rain-swollen river, dozens were evacuated from flooded areas and two airports closed briefly.

In neighboring El Salvador, winds ripped the roofs off some buildings and forced emergency officials to set up temporary shelters for those left homeless.

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Associated Press writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Diego Mendez in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.

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Heavy snow paralyzes parts of eastern Europe

3 dead as ship sinks in rough Azov Sea; Bulgarian villages cut off


updated 3:15 p.m. CT, Thurs., Jan. 3, 2008
SOFIA, Bulgaria - A bitterly cold winter storm pummeled parts of Europe on Thursday, killing at least three sailors when a ship sank in rough seas, and piling up snow that stranded thousands at airports, on mountain roads and in remote villages.

Authorities in northeastern Bulgaria declared a state of emergency, with the army called in to help civil defense officials clear roads and reach stranded motorists.

A cold spell also caused problems in neighboring Romania, where Bucharest's two main airports were closed. Parts of Turkey and Greece, as well as Western Europe, were also affected.

Some 311 Bulgarian villages were left without electricity and dozens were cut off without food supplies or fresh water, authorities said.

The northern Danube municipality of Ruse declared a state of emergency after heavy snow blocked many roads, said Andrei Ivanov, chief of the Balkan country's civil defense service.

Temperatures fell to 5 below zero, while snow drifts reached more than 6 feet in parts of the country and hundreds of motorists were trapped on mountain roads.

Freighter sinks in Azov Sea
At least three crewmen were killed when a Bulgarian ship carrying scrap metal sank during a storm on the Azov Sea between Ukraine and Russia, officials said.

The Vanessa was carrying a crew of 10 and a Ukrainian pilot who was guiding the ship as it approached the Kerch Strait, which connects the Azov Sea to the Black Sea, said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry for southern Russia.

Rescuers pulled one survivor and three bodies from the sea, where waves were as high as 10 feet, Petrov said.

Thousands of passengers were stranded in Romania after Bucharest's two main airports were closed due to heavy snowfall. The snow also blocked many roads in the south, forcing the closure of at least one border crossing with Bulgaria and prompting train delays.

Snow in Turkey, Greece
In Turkey's capital of Ankara, snow caused traffic jams and accidents, but no injuries were reported.

Temperatures in Greece fell to 1 below zero in the north of the country, where snow blanketed roads.

In Western Europe, ice and snow disrupted traffic. The Mont-Blanc tunnel linking France and Italy was closed to trucks until Friday because sharp temperature differences between the two sides threatened to disrupt the tunnel's ventilation, traffic authorities said.

A Boeing 737 arriving from Marrakech, Morocco, slid off an icy runway at an airport in Deauville, northern France, airport authorities said. The plane, operated by Atlas Blue, came to a halt in grass. The 169 passengers were evacuated unharmed.

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