Hundreds stranded overnight on trains in icy Italy

Hundreds of people were trapped overnight on trains as freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls in the centre and north of Italy caused widespread disruptions on roads, railways and at airports.

Over 600 people were trapped for seven hours without heating or water when their train juddered to a halt in the Apennines after the electric cables and brakes froze.

Two other trains experienced severe delays overnight, and dozens were cancelled in the Piedmont region. Flights out of Milan were disrupted and Bologna airport closed from Wednesday afternoon until this morning.

An infant died in Messina in Sicily after the car he was in skidded off the road on sheets of water left by torrential rains which have swept the island. A 76-year-old pensioner in Parma died while out sweeping snow.

Temperatures reached -2.6 degrees Celsius in Turin, which was covered by a blanket of snow from 10 to 12 centimetres deep (3.9 to 4.7 inches). A number of schools closed and roads were blocked by cars without snow chains.

Forecasters say this week will be the coldest Italy has known in 27 years, as icy winds blow across the peninsula from Siberia.

The cold snap kept Europe in its icy grip this morning, pushing the death toll past 110 as countries from France to Ukraine struggled to cope with temperatures that reached record lows in some places.

Nine more people died in Poland overnight as temperatures plunged to minus 32 Celsius (minus 25.6 Fahrenheit) in the southwest, bringing the overall toll to 29 since the deep freeze began last week, national police said.

In Ukraine, tens of thousands of people have headed to shelters trying to escape the freeze that the emergencies mininstry said has now killed 63 people.

More than 30 people have died elsewhere in Europe because of the falling mercury since the start of the snap, according to an AFP tally.