Heavy Snow Leaves Thousands Stranded Across Europe

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LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of air and rail passengers were left stranded and road traffic was paralyzed across Europe on Thursday after a cold snap brought heavy snow and bitterly cold temperatures from London to Moscow.

Snow drifts and ice had caused the cancellation of more than 200 flights on Wednesday at Britain's Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, and another 90 flights will be canceled on Thursday, a spokeswoman for airport operator BAA Plc said.

In Belgium, heavy snowfall forced most flights to be delayed or canceled at Brussels international airport as crews worked to remove ice from planes and runways.

More flights might be disrupted if the weather did not improve, an airport spokesman said.

Flights destined for Brussels were also being canceled due to similar conditions at other European airports, he said. In Frankfurt, at least 20 flights were canceled and dozens more were delayed due to snow.

In Britain, snowfall ranging from a half-inch to 11 inches blanketed most of the country on Wednesday, and temperatures dropped to 23 F overnight.

The ice and unusually widespread snowfall closed scores of roads and caused jams on key routes, while rail passengers experienced delays and cancellations across the country.

Roads were impassable in remote areas, causing scores of accidents and traffic jams. Police said a motorist in North Yorkshire died when his four-wheel drive car rolled over on a bend on a snow-covered road.

Hundreds of thousands of London commuters were hit by delays on the Underground. But forecasters were predicting temperatures would warm up on Friday.

Conditions were still severe in the Netherlands on Thursday, however, where snow, ice, hail and driving winds hit morning rush hour traffic across the country.

Poor driving conditions sparked dozens of traffic jams stretching hundreds of miles, the ANWB motoring association Web site said.

In northern France, snowfall of up to four inches overnight caused some disruptions to morning rush-hour, with heavy goods vehicles banned from using motorways in the region for much of the morning. The situation improved by midday.

Morning rail commuters into Paris experienced delays of several hours in some cases, but air traffic out of Paris airports was barely affected.

In Moscow, where ice-coated sidewalks have been made treacherous by weeks of sub-zero temperatures and sleet, prosecutors ordered an investigation into snow removal services after a sharp increase in injuries to pedestrians.

Interfax news agency, quoting medical sources, said 72 people had been injured on icy sidewalks in the past 24 hours .

We have already opened several criminal cases," Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Moscow City prosecutor's office said by telephone. "Yesterday a man was killed by a falling icicle. It was a dreadful sight."