Snow traps up to 1,000 on train

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish rescue workers have dug out a snowbound train in which hundreds of passengers were trapped on Tuesday, as snow, ice and rain continue to cause chaos across Europe.

The 10-carriage Turkish train, traveling from Edirne province to Istanbul, stopped near the town of Catalca, near Istanbul, early on Tuesday, an official at the state railway authority told Reuters.

He said the train could have been carrying as many as 1,000 passengers, but was unable to give an exact.

"We are short of food on the train, and there's no heat," one passenger told the private NTV news television by mobile phone. "There are many children on board, and people are very cold. We are in a miserable state."

Heavy snow cut electricity supplies, forcing the train to stop, the official said. Authorities eventually cleared the tracks, covered in about five feet of snow, and restored electricity, allowing the train to resume traveling.

In Greece, soldiers battled blizzards and sub-zero temperatures on Tuesday to rescue 108 passengers stranded overnight on another train, which had hit snow shortly after leaving the northeastern border town of Orestiada for Athens at 8:30 p.m. on Monday.

Soldiers using tracked vehicles evacuated 116 people from a train stuck in about two metres of snow since late on Monday near the northern Greek village of Petrades, about 900 kilometers (550 miles) north of Athens, near the Bulgarian border, the Associated Press reported.

The snow storms and high winds which have swept Greece and western Turkey this week brought rare snowfall in the Greek capital Athens and caused traffic mayhem.

Several people have been killed or are missing, presumed dead, in the two countries.

An unidentified man in his 40s died from exposure in Istanbul Tuesday, and snow blanketed the city, Turkey's largest with 10 million people, state-run Anatolian news agency said.

Rescue workers near the Turkish resort town of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast recovered two bodies after a car carrying a family of five was swept away by flood waters, a spokesman for the local governor's office said. Little hope remained of finding the three others alive, he said.

A father and son have been missing since Monday in the western Greek port of Patras when their car was swept away by a swollen river.

Greek authorities have been forced to shut down airports, close major highways and leave ships anchored in port. The Arctic weather is set to spread further before it abates, forecasters have warned.

Russia's southerly Krasnodar region was under a state of emergency on Tuesday after the worst blizzards since records began sparked power outages, snarled roads and hit rail exports.

The Black Sea resort of Sochi, a city of some 300,000 whose mild summer climate makes it a favourite playground for the Soviet elite, was without power or light after heavy snows and strong winds brought down power lines.

Some districts in the Krasnodar region were under a metre of snow -- more than the entire snowfall of last year -- making this winter the worst since records began, state television station ORT reported.

After heavy snowfalls throlughout Europe, the UK is braced for colder weather in the run up to Christmas.

A spokesman for the London-based PA WeatherCentre said the run up to December 25 would be the coldest for several years.

He said: "There's a blast of Arctic air coming up this weekend from the North and plenty of low pressure around.

"Scotland is the most favourable for snow because it's closer to the cold air and also the east coast.

"In a couple more days we'll have more of an idea. There's a better chance than some years when it has been really warm in the run-up to Christmas."

The cold snap, which has pushed electricity consumption in France to record highs, comes after October temperatures on the French Riveria's beaches hit their highest since records began in 1949.

In Italy, snow-coated parts of the southern region of Naples for the first time in over 15 years and temperatures fell below zero on Sicily, better known for its beaches and orange groves.

Places such as Rimini in Italy have seen temperatures as low as minus 2C, and the freezing spell is set to continue in some parts for a few days.

In central Italy, towns were cut off by snow and over a dozen tourists have been trapped in mountain refuges.

Thousands were stuck on Sardinia as high seas stopped ferries leaving.

Cyprus is expecting snow in addition to the torrential rain that has fallen in recent days.

Poland has counted 135 weather-related deaths so far, above the total toll for last winter of 112 but below the 1998-99 count of 154.