Three dead during cold snap in Greece

Three people have died in Greece as stormy weather and freezing temperatures gripped most of the country, officials said yesterday. The bodies of two elderly men were found Sunday, two days after their car was swept away by flood waters near Athens, the fire department said.

A day earlier, rescue crews had found a 66-year-old woman dead inside the same car in the rural area of Keratea. Greece is battling a prolonged cold snap that has seen temperatures fall to below -18 Celsius (-0.4 Fahrenheit) in some areas and covered parts of the country in snow. The rescue services have received dozens of calls-outs to help people trapped in their cars or homes by heavy snowfall.

On Saturday, firefighters rescued a pair of French hikers stranded in a forest on the island of Lesbos. The poor weather has also disrupted travel, forcing highway closures and coastal ferry and intercity train cancellations. On Friday, a Ryanair flight bound for Thessaloniki was rerouted to Timisoara, Romania, because of poor visibility.