{"id":56773,"date":"2026-01-07T18:19:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/flights-grounded-six-dead-as-cold-snap-sweeps-across-europe\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:20:56","slug":"flights-grounded-six-dead-as-cold-snap-sweeps-across-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/flights-grounded-six-dead-as-cold-snap-sweeps-across-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Flights grounded, six dead as cold snap sweeps across Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In France, authorities confirmed that five people died in road accidents caused by dangerously icy roads and \u201cblack ice,\u201d especially in the southwest and around Paris. In some cases, vehicles lost control on frozen surfaces, leading to fatal collisions. Elsewhere, a woman in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, died after a snow\u2011laden tree branch collapsed under the weight of heavy snowfall. <\/p>\n<p>The impact of the cold snap has gone far beyond loss of life. Flight operations across Europe have been severely disrupted, with hundreds of cancellations at major hubs like Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, and Amsterdam\u2019s Schiphol Airport. Airlines continue to struggle with icy runways and snow\u2011clearing operations, prompting travel chaos for thousands of passengers who faced delays or overnight stays at terminals. <\/p>\n<p>Road and rail travel have also been heavily affected. Trains were delayed or halted in parts of the Netherlands and other countries as rail networks grappled with frozen tracks and weather\u2011related technical issues. Local authorities have urged the public to avoid unnecessary travel, highlighting the significant hazard posed by ice and snow. <\/p>\n<p>Across the continent, temperatures have plunged well below seasonal averages. In the United Kingdom, the mercury dipped to around \u201112.5\u202f\u00b0C in some regions, leading to school closures and disruption of public services. Meteorologists warn that more snowfall and icy conditions are expected in the coming days, prolonging the winter weather disruptions. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Last night was the coldest night of the winter so far,&#8221; Britain&#8217;s Met Office said.<\/p>\n<p>Officials are also concerned about vulnerable populations, especially people living without stable shelter, who face increased risk during the prolonged cold spell. Emergency measures and shelters have been activated in several cities to protect those exposed to the elements. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-100341 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg\" alt=\"A view of Air France planes on the snow-covered tarmac at Terminal 2F of Paris&#039; Charles de Gaulle Airport, as winter weather with snow and cold temperatures hit a part of France, on January 7, 2026.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A severe cold snap sweeping across Europe has caused deadly road accidents, flight cancellations, and widespread travel disruption, as freezing temperatures and icy conditions grip the continent. Since early January, treacherous weather has contributed to at least six deaths in weather\u2011related incidents, with the hardest\u2011hit area being France. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000100340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000100340,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/2026-01-07t085103z_1505152388_rc27wiai7avt_rtrmadp_3_europe-weather-france-snow.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000100340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56773"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56773"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}