Three people were found dead Wednesday after they were trapped in snow on Mount Fletcher in Eastern Cape province, where heavy snowfall has closed roads and threatened roofs with collapse, SABC broadcaster reported. "Today's freezing weather in the area is probably the cause of their death," SABC was quoted by dpa as reporting. The bad weather has cut off the city of Kokstad, and shut down the road connecting the Eastern Cape and Lesotho, the mountainous country wholly contained within South Africa, according to the government's traffic safety programme, Arrive Alive. National radio reported that authorities were working to clear roads after the overnight snowfall in the south-central coastal province. "The snow has formed hard ice. It's terrible, it can't break," Arrive Alive spokesman Tshepo Machaea was quoted as saying by SAPA news service. Since the beginning of the month, the same region has seen a cold snap that has brought ice, snow and torrential rains that have killed at least six people and caused more than 7,000 people to be evacuated.
