Europe's cold weather puts asylum seekers at risk, freezes rivers and Italy's Marmore waterfall

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Heavy snowfalls and sub-zero temperatures across Europe have left more than 20 people dead and one of the continent's tallest waterfalls starting to freeze over.

The extreme winter weather across the continent has left villages cut off, caused power and water outages, frozen rivers and lakes, grounded flights and led to road accidents.

In Poland, 55 deaths have been linked to the cold weather since November 1, authorities said, with temperatures dropping to -30 degrees Celsius in the mountains of southern Poland in recent days.

Serbian authorities have banned river traffic on its stretch of the Danube — one of Europe's main rivers — because of ice and strong wind.

Aid workers said many of several hundred asylum seekers sheltering in an abandoned warehouse in the country's capital Belgrade were sick after a few days in extreme cold.

Heaters, blankets, clothes and food had been distributed by aid organisations, in an attempt to keep the men, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, warm.

"The next few days are critical, and for sure the health condition of these people is worsening," MSF Head of Mission in Serbia, Stephane Moissaing, said.

In Bulgaria, police said two men from Iraq and a Somali woman died from cold in the mountains near Turkey as they tried to make their way toward Europe and a passenger train derailed after it hit a pile of snow in the central part of the country.

Four Portuguese people were killed when a bus skidded on an icy road in eastern France, while black ice across northern and western Germany has caused countless accidents and injuries.

German federal police said they picked up 19 asylum seekers — including five children — at a highway stop in Bavaria, who were suffering from hypothermia after their driver disappeared and left them on the back of an unheated a truck for hours in the freezing cold.

But for hundreds of Muscovites, the fact that the temperature had plunged to -27 Celsius was no reason to avoid going for a group bicycle ride.

About 500 cyclists, many equipped with fur hats and other nonstandard gear, held a ride of about 8 kilometres along the Moscow River, as the capital shivered through a fierce cold snap.

Tourists brave cold to see freezing waterfall

In Italy, eight deaths have been blamed on the sub-freezing temperatures, including six homeless people.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis drew attention to the homeless and asked God to "warm our hearts so we'll help [the homeless]".

One man died in the basement of an unused building in Milan and another one on a street flanking Florence's Arno River.

The Marmore waterfall, known as one of the tallest in Europe, has started to freeze over with icicles hanging from below the falls.

Temperatures dropped to -5 degrees Celsius in the area, turning the falling water into long icicles.

The sight attracted many curious tourists and residents, who braved the cold to visit.

Some sections of the paths leading around the waterfall were closed, with ice on the ground making them dangerous.

AP

Topics: weather, italy, poland, belgium, european-union, france, portugal, bulgaria, germany, serbia, russian-federation