Thousands shiver in Europe's big chill

Temperatures plunged to record lows in Germany and heavy snow forced normally sunny Marseille to close its international airport as freezing winter weather gripped much of Europe yesterday.

Port authorities in the Dutch city of Rotterdam deployed an icebreaking ship for the first time in 12 years, while in Britain forecasters issued a new severe weather warning.

In the Balkans, thousands shivered in their homes after gas supplies to southeastern Europe were cut as a result of a contract dispute between Russia and Ukraine, reminding many of the freezing winters they endured in the wars of the 1990s. "It all reminds me of the war when we were freezing, except there is no shooting," said Hilmo Celjo, who stood in a queue near the Bosnian capital Sarajevo to buy wood and coal.

Temperatures sank to record lows in parts of Germany overnight. A weather station in the eastern state of Saxony said the coldest spot was -27.7 degrees Celsius.

Thick snow has covered much of the country and icebreakers were at work on several waterways, including the River Elbe in eastern Germany.

"I'm wearing all my warmest clothes, I've got two pairs of socks on. Otherwise drinking hot cocoa helps. We've just been sitting in McDonald's," Cologne resident Florian Densing told Reuters Television.

A 77-year-old woman was found dead outside in the eastern city of Weimar on Monday.

She appeared to have frozen to death after she had gone missing from her old people's home.

In France, temperatures dropped as low as -16 degrees Celsius yesterday in the north of the country, while 40 centimetres of snow fell in the Marseille region in just a few hours.

Authorities blocked access to nearby motorways and 1,000 motorists were stuck in their cars awaiting rescue services.

Marseille's main Saint Charles train station was paralysed as signalling froze. School buses were cancelled in the entire Bouches du Rhone area, where Marseille is located.

France's Secretary of State for Transport, Dominique Bussereau, demanded an investigation into "unacceptable" chaos at Charles de Gaulle, where hundreds of flights were cancelled and thousands of passengers stranded earlier in the week.

In Albania, remote areas were blocked by heavy snow and isolated villages were being supplied with food by helicopters.

A religious ceremony in which believers plunge into an icy river to retrieve a holy cross was cancelled because of the cold. A hunter killed two wolves which had ventured near the northern Albanian town of Kukes.