Seven die of exposure as extreme cold grips Moscow

AN extreme cold spell caused more deaths among Russians stranded on frozen streets yesterday while thousands of revellers plunged into icy waters for an annual ritual marking a Russian Orthodox holiday.

Moscow shivered through its fourth day of a cold snap, with temperatures dropping to minus 24 degrees celsius overnight - the lowest recorded temperature on January 19 since 1927.

Seven people died of exposure in the capital in the past day. At least 31 people have died across the western part of the country since the cold spell swept in from Siberia late Monday, but the number is likely to be higher because many areas have not reported such deaths.

The cold snap coincided with Russian Orthodox holiday of the Epiphany, and many defied warnings from doctors and priests by jumping into holes cut into ice on rivers and ponds to cleanse themselves.

The ritual imitates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.

Jumping into the water in such temperatures “is the most intense feeling,” one man told state-run television, his eyebrows rimed with frost.

On Wednesday, electricity consumption nationwide hit 146,000 megawatts - a record high since the Soviet collapse 15 years ago.

Moscow alone consumed over 15,300 megawatts.

Traffic was light in the capital because many could not start their cars.

Outside one apartment building, residents hefted car batteries back into their vehicles after taking them home overnight to keep them warm. Many parents kept their children home. At one Moscow school, a boy was sent home when none of his classmates showed up.

A cold wave also brought disruption to EU states in Eastern Europe, with public transport in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius hit as electric tram wires snapped.

In Estonia, homeless people were allowed to sleep at a number of train or bus stations during the cold spell.

In neighbouring Latvia, many schools were empty as temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees.

According to Latvian law, children under 12 can skip school if temperatures fall to lower than minus 20.

In Poland, 19 people have died of exposure to cold in the last nine days, bringing to 122 the number who have fallen victim to freezing weather this winter.