In Ukraine, thirty-eight more fatalities were reported from frostbite and
hypothermia on Friday, raising the nation's death toll to 101. Emergency
officials have said many of the victims were homeless.
Mykola Blyznyuk of the Health Ministry told the Kiev Post newspaper that
many of the victims of hypothermia had broken their legs in falls and spent a
long time on the ground in freezing temperatures while waiting for help to
arrive.
Of the Ukrainians who have died since the cold weather hit Jan. 27, 64 were
found frozen on the streets, 11 died in hospitals and 26 in their homes,
emergency officials said.
It was so cold there, that some 1,500 swans, sea gulls and ducks froze to
the ice in a small harbor near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa, forcing
emergency workers to use ships to break up the surface and free the birds,
officials said.
The weeklong cold snap — Eastern Europe's worst in decades — is causing
power outages, frozen water pipes and the widespread closure of schools,
nurseries, airports and bus routes.
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| Pedestrians walk near a metro entrance on Feb. 3 2012. |
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| An elderly woman is wrapped in thick winter clothes as she tries to sell items to passers-by in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, |
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| A view of the frozen River Dnieper |
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| A sparrow with extended feathers due to the cold sits on a branch |
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| A woman looks through an icy window on a bus |
