Monday saw further deaths across Europe due to the continent's coldest weather in years, with more than 40 people dead so far, according to dpa. Slovakia recorded its first death in a deep freeze that has covered Europe, after an unidentified man died of hypothermia near a fire station. "Rescue and emergency doctors were unable to revive him," a spokesman for the firefighters who found the man told the state news agency TASR. In Austria, a 72-year-old man died after an accident in which the vehicle he was driving crashed into a stream 20 kilometres from Vienna. The man was able to free himself from his submerged car only to freeze to death on shore. In Serbia the death toll was thought to be five, with temperatures as low as -21 degrees Celsius in the town of Kragujevac, 120 kilometres south of Belgrade. A state of emergency was in effect in 14 municipalities still combating frozen snow. Several remote villages were left without electricity, local reports said. At least four deaths were reported in Bulgaria, with towns across the country reporting the coldest weather in decades. In Romania, where temperature as low as -27 were recorded in the Carpathian mountains, the government urged municipalities to keep shelters for the homeless open, after two people froze to death. In the Baltics, at least four people died, with three dead in Latvia as temperatures dropped to -20 Celsius. Lithuania reported the one death, while a homeless person had to have a leg amputated due to the freezing weather. In Poland, 10 people died at the weekend, officials said. Police were patrolling areas where homeless people might be found and urged the public to call if they saw a homeless person who had been outside for long. Poland saw its frostiest morning this winter, with -27 Celsius reported in the south-eastern village of Stuposiany. In Moscow, 15 people froze to death at the weekend, some because of exposure while intoxicated, city officials said. Night temperatures were -23. All schools in Russia's central Siberian Khanty-Mantaisky region were closed because of daytime temperatures of -30. Heavy snowfall in Russia's Kuban region, in the foothills of the Caucasian Mountains, left 17,800 people without power and closed airports and major highways. An even colder wave is expected across Europe in the coming days. The Baltics are set to experience temperatures of -30 Celsius at night, with the authorities there warning residents not to leave their homes if possible.
