21 die in winter freeze

Twenty-one people froze to death in Poland over the weekend as cold weather tightened its grip on the country, police said today.

The deaths raised to 144 the total number of people who have frozen to death so far this winter in the eastern European country.

Police spokesman Pawel Biedziak told the PAP news agency that officials have received reports of 21 people who froze to death over the past two days as Arctic temperatures moved in from Russia.

Those 21, he said, come on top of a figure of 123 deaths so far this winter given earlier in the day by Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn.

“New reports are coming in all the time from around the country of people dying,” Biedziak said.

On Saturday the government said it was releasing money from a reserve fund to help homeless shelters in their efforts to keep people from freezing to death.

Temperatures during today ranged from -18C in the northeast, near the border with Belarus, to just above freezing in areas of the southwest close to Germany and the Czech Republic.

During the night, temperatures dropped as low as -28C in the east.

Meteorologists predicted another exceptionally cold night tonight. In Warsaw, temperatures were expected to fall to -27 C.