Deadly deep freeze hits Poland
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
30.01.2012 13:02
Poland's Interior Ministry has issued a warning to look after the elderly after at least 12 people have died of hypothermia across Poland since Friday.
photo - PAP/Andrzej Hrechorowicz
Another seven people died of carbon monoxide poisoning in heating-related accidents.
The Interior Ministry appealed for Poles to “pay special attention to the elderly and the homeless.”
Safety precautions regarding heating were stressed in the announcement, noting that “under no circumstances” should ventilation shafts be covered as such actions can lead to fatalities with gas appliances.
Meanwhile, weather forecasters are predicting that temperatures could fall below -20 Celsius during the daytime later in the week.
At night, temperatures may reach -30.
The bitterest weather at present is in eastern Poland, with the coldest temperature of the year thus far recorded at Stuposiany in the Biesczady Mountains on early Monday morning (-27).
Temperatures in the east have reached -19 in Zamosc, -18 in Rzeszow and -17 in Bialystok.
Moving west, Warsaw has seen -15, while Poznan and Wroclaw have both experienced -11. (nh/pg)
Source: IAR