Dozens of Homeless Die in Cold Weather

A long spell of freezing weather gripping Europe has taken the lives of dozens of homeless people, while blizzards have disrupted travel and balmy resorts have suffered freak snowfalls. Several dozen people trapped in their vehicles by avalanches in a tunnel in southern Russia were finally freed, but as many as 300 people were still feared to be inside the tunnel as snow continued to fall. Sections of the Danube River in Central Europe were frozen over, as were major canals in northern Germany. The cold snap began in many regions on Christmas Eve. People on the French Mediterranean resort island of Corsica awoke Sunday to see snow covering the landscape for the first time in a decade. About 20 people have frozen to death in Romania, government general secretary Remus Opris told state radio. Seven homeless people had died from the cold weather in France since Wednesday, according to police. The frozen bodies of three men were found over the weekend in Poland, bringing to 13 the number of deaths there since the cold snap began.