Six dead in weather accidents as cold snap grips Europe

Paris: Freezing temperatures plunged swathes of Europe into a second day of travel chaos on Tuesday, with six people dying in weather related accident...

Paris: Freezing temperatures plunged swathes of Europe into a second day of travel chaos on Tuesday, with six people dying in weather-related accidents during the continent's bitterest cold snap this winter so far.

Since the mercury dropped on Monday, five people have died in France and one woman in Bosnia as heavy snow and rain sparked floods and power outages across the Balkans.

Paris's two main airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, were to cancel many flights early Wednesday to allow ground crews to clear snow from runways and de-ice planes. Forty percent of morning flights at Charles de Gaulle were to be scrapped, and 25 percent at Orly.

In Britain, temperatures plunged to -12.5C overnight Monday-Tuesday in Norfolk, eastern England, while temperatures below -10C across the Netherlands brought trains to a standstill on Tuesday morning.

"Last night was the coldest night of the winter so far," Britain's Met Office said, with nearly all of the United Kingdom on alert for snow and ice and more snowfall expected.