Trapped in an icy prison: 1,000 ships stranded in frozen ocean as China is gripped by extreme cold snap

China is enduring its most brutal cold snap in 28 years

More than 1,000 ships are frozen in place in Shandong province

Travel across the nation has been severely affected



Temperatures in China have plunged to their lowest in almost three decades, cold enough to freeze coastal waters and trap 1,000 ships in ice, official media said at the weekend.

Since late November the country has shivered at an average of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees colder than the previous average, and the chilliest in 28 years, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, citing the China Meteorological Administration.



Bitter cold has even frozen the sea in Laizhou Bay on the coast of Shandong province in the east, stranding nearly 1,000 ships, the China Daily newspaper reported.



Frozen: A fishing boat trapped in the sea ice on the coast of east China's Shandong province. Reports state China's national average temperature since late November 2012 is 1.3 degrees Celsius lower than usual

China is experiencing unusual chills this winter, with its national average temperature hitting the lowest in 28 years. These children grabbed their sledges to take advantage today

Zheng Dong, chief meteorologist at the Yantai Marine Environment Monitoring Center under the State Oceanic Administration, told the paper that the area under ice in Laizhou Bay was 291 square km this week.



Transport around the country has been severely disrupted.

Over 140 flights from the state capital airport in central Hunan province were delayed, while heavy snowfall forced the closure of some sections of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, the China Daily said.



Glacial beauty: But the cold has severely hit the country's transport network. Trains, road transport and shipping have all been affected

Temperatures in the northeast fell even further, reaching a 43-year low of minus 15.3 degrees Celsius, about 3.7 degrees below the previous recorded average.



One truck driver in southeastern Jiangxi province, caught in a 5 km (3.1 miles) queue caused by a pileup that happened after heavy snowfall, told China Daily the snow and extreme cold had caught him unawares.

