"We are very pleased that the vessel is now safely under tow -- the weather on scene is still poor but I can report that all 94 people on board are safe and well," said David Robertson, coastguard manager at Aberdeen, northern Scotland.

The incident came a day after a 4,500-tonne cargo ship ran adrift further south in the North Sea, only narrowly averting a collision with a ConocoPhillips gas platform.

In southwest England, a search off the coast of Cornwall for a woman reported to have fallen from a Russian cargo vessel has been called off.

On land, a man was killed in a village in Somerset, in the same region, when a tree fell on the car he was travelling in, while about 80,000 homes were left without power in Wales after falling trees brought down power cables.

But the biggest focus of concern was in Ireland, where a major search for seven missing fishermen resumed off the the Irish coast after a double tragedy when two trawlers sank within hours of each other.

The search was later scaled down amid dreadful weather conditions and the prospects of finding any survivors appeared increasingly bleak.

"Conditions are very difficult with gale force winds. The seas are very rough and it is very windy," coastguard spokeswoman Veronica Scanlan told AFP.

Navy and police divers are on standby to try to locate the wreck of the French-built trawler Pere Charles which sank off Hook Head in County Wexford while fishing for herring on Wednesday evening.

In a separate incident, two fishermen, the Irish skipper and a Polish crewman, are missing from the trawler Honeydew II which sank about 20 miles (30 kilometres) further west off Mine Head in County Waterford.

At first light Friday the search operations resumed, with helicopters, a naval vessel, lifeboats, fishing trawlers and coastguard shore crews along the coast of counties Wexford and Waterford.

Ireland's Marine Casualty Investigation Board had begun inquiries into both tragedies.

But said Scanlon: "As time goes on hopes are fading of actually rescuing any of the missing men. It is becoming more likely that it will be bodies that will be recovered."

The stormy weather was not limited to Britain.

In Belgium a man was killed after losing control of his car in strong winds, which were reported to be reaching 100 kilometers per hour in some parts of the country, police said.

In the Netherlands experts put the cost of damage caused by the weather over the last day or two at 15 million euros.

Further east, winds, sometimes up to hurricane force, swept through the Czech Republic, uprooting trees, damaging roofs and electricity pylons.

Winds reached up to 150 kilometers per hour at the highest point in the country near the Polish border, while the town of Cesky Tesin was without power for part of the night.

In Austria some 1,200 homes were left without power overnight in the north of the country, while the main motorway linking Vienna with Salzburg was closed for a time due to winds of up to 160 kilometres an hour.

earlier related report
Ship towed after running adrift in stormy North Sea
London (AFP) Jan 12 - A dive support ship with 94 people on board that had run adrift in the North Sea amid storm-force gales was rescued Friday by British coastguards, who attached a cable to tow it back to shore.

The 6,300-ton CSO Orelia lost power after being hit by a huge wave which wiped out its electrics. At one stage it drifted to within three miles (5 kilometres) of offshore oil platforms.

Experts managed to attach a cable to the vessel from a tug, the Pacific Blade, about 155 miles (250 kilometres) northeast of Aberdeen on the northeastern Scottish coast.

The incident came just one day after a 4,500-tonne cargo ship ran adrift in the North Sea, only narrowly averting a collision with a ConocoPhillips gas platform.

The second incident occurred when the Orelia lost power around 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) on Thursday, said a spokesman for Technip UK, which operates the vessel. "It suffered damage to its bridge. It had water ingress into the bridge and had an electrical failure," he told AFP.

"A tug has arrived and put a line on board and the intention is to tow the Orelia back to northeast Scotland. That could take some time because it's going against the weather.

"They are preparing to move but they haven't made any estimates of how much time it would take."

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the Pacific Blade was to tow the Orelia to Invergordon, about 80 miles (130 kilometres) northwest of Aberdeen.

David Robertson, Aberdeen coastguard watch manager, said: "We are very pleased that the vessel is now safely under tow. The weather on scene is still poor but I can report that all 94 people on board are safe and well."

earlier related report
Stricken ship passes British rigs, no more danger: coastguard
London (AFP) Jan 12 - A cargo ship adrift in the North Sea averted a collision with two gas platforms early Friday, and no longer poses a threat to rigs in the region, the British coastguard said.

Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) told AFP the stricken 4,500-tonne "Vindo", blown by strong winds and buffeted by heavy seas, had passed a ConocoPhilips platform, from which 20 rig workers had earlier been evacuated as a precaution.

"The very latest information is that the vessel has actually passed the (ConocoPhillips) platform," an MCA spokeswoman said earlier.

Another MCA spokeswoman later told AFP that at 12:10 am (0110 GMT) on Friday, "the 'Vindo' passed the second unmanned platform, so it missed it by about 800 yards (730 metres)."

She said there was a tug-boat on the way to meet with the vessel and was due to reach it at about 9 am (1000 GMT).

"At the moment, there's no other platform in danger because it won't collide with any others by the time the tug has reached it," she added.

The "Vindo", carrying a cargo of fertilizer, had lost engine power off the east coast of England on Thursday, inadvertently setting itself on a collision course with the ConocoPhillips gas platform.

The spokeswoman added that the "Vindo" had managed to regain engine power for a short time, and that the nine-member crew were "working very hard" to get full power again.

A Royal Air Force helicopter was standing by in case the crew needed to be evacuated, the MCA spokeswoman said.

The "Vindo" was involved in a collision off the English coast in September last year, when the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged vessel crashed into another large cargo ship, "Dealer", after having failed to respond to radio messages.

earlier related report
Cold Snap Toll Reaches 65 In Northern India
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 14 - Temperatures dived to sub-zero and food shortages were reported in Indian Kashmir's mountainous Leh region as the death toll from a cold snap gripping northern India reached 65 on Sunday, officials said.

Four more people fell victim to chilly temperatures in Uttar Pradesh, taking to 52 the number of cold-related deaths in the populous northern state since early December, officials said from the provincial capital, Lucknow.

Eleven deaths were also reported in adjoining Bihar state, while two deaths occurred in Haryana and West Bengal states in the same period, according to officials.

Indian Kashmir's Leh district, meanwhile, reported growing food and fuel shortages after night temperatures plummeted to a below normal minus 30 degrees Centigrade (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Daytime temperatures offered little respite, with the mercury rising to just minus 15 degrees Centigrade (five degrees Fahrenheit) in the Himalayan tourist district, it said.

"The intense cold has turned Leh into a ghost town, with streets and markets deserted, especially in the evening," the news agency said from Leh, reporting residents' complaints of frozen taps and rocketing prices of essential goods such as cooking gas.

"Milk, vegetables and fresh eggs have also vanished from the markets," PTI said, adding there were thin attendances at offices in Leh, which lies at an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,545 metres).

However, no deaths were reported in Leh.

The low temperatures across northern India have brought misery to millions of homeless people across four affected states, officials said.

Each winter, scores of homeless people in India die from cold as a result of a lack of proper shelter, clothing and food.

Nearly 200 people froze to death in northern India last winter.

The weather office said temperatures would stay chilly in the region for the next few days.

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