In Poland, where the temperature had plummeted to minus 35 Centigrade (minus 31 Farenheit), eight people froze to death late on Friday. That brings the toll there this winter to 199, police said.

In Romania, where the mercury was forecast to fall to minus 25 C (minus 13 F) over the weekend, five more people died. Fifty five Romanians have perished of cold this winter.

In France, where there were snow warnings across the two thirds of the country, a homeless man died of a heart attack and airport in second largest city, Lyon, was paralysed by snow on Friday night.

Up to 1,200 people were forced to spend the night huddling under blankets in the airport when three quarters of incoming and outcoming flights were cancelled.

Airport traffic resumed on Saturday morning but trains and buses in surrounding regions remained at a halt.

Heavy snow also disrupted road and rail traffic further east and south, in southern France, Switzerland and northern Italy, cutting some Alpine villages off altogether.

Southern Switzerland was buried under a metre (three feet) of snow after the heaviest falls in 20 years, the meteorological office reported

In eastern Spain a bus overturned in a blizzard, killing five people and injuring 30, police said.

More severe snow was forecast for the weekend in the Valencia region where the bus accident happened.

Georgians, meanwhile, endured a seventh day without heating due to an explosion that severed gas supplies from neighbouring Russia.

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, which is heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies, accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging the main gas pipeline between the two countries.

On Friday he announced that Tbilisi had struck a deal with Iran to provide natural gas from the start of next week, offering hope of relief from the cold.

Engineers have been working night and day in temperatures of minus 20 C (minus 4.0 F) to repair the pipeline but have not yet been able to say when the repairs will be completed. Some are reported to be suffering from potentially severe frostbite.

Turkey expressed concern late on Friday about possible energy shortages after a reduction in natural gas supplies from Iran and Russia.

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