ATHENS — About 110 passengers, including children and elderly people, were still trapped on Tuesday after spending all night in a snowed-in train in northeast Greece in sub-zero temperatures, Greek authorities said on Tuesday.
Passengers, who huddled under blankets after the train’s heating stopped working, told Greek radio they were fine but not sure they could stand another night in freezing temperatures, according to a wire service.
“We are wearing everything we have,” one told Athens Flash radio by mobile phone. “If they don’t get us out soon, things will get pretty serious.”
Greek Railway (OSE) officials told Reuters repeated efforts to reach the train, stranded in eight feet of snow in the region of Didymoticho near the Turkish border, had failed.
OSE said they had asked nearby Bulgaria to help reach the passengers. The train ran into heavy snowfall shortly after leaving the northeast border town of Orestiada for Athens at 8:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. EST) on Monday.
“There are attempts both by the prefecture in coordination with the municipalities, the army, Bulgaria and OSE teams to reach the train,” said OSE General Director Eleftherios Manolas said. “We hope to have a solution within a couple of hours.”
“We’re talking about 20 degrees celsius below zero (minus 4 Fahrenheit),” said Manolas.
Snow storms, gale-force winds and heavy rain swept across Greece on Monday, leaving two people missing and forcing authorities to shut down airports, close major highways and leave ships anchored in port.
With much of eastern Europe hit by bad weather, even Cyprus said it was expecting snow in addition to the torrential rain that has fallen in recent days.millimeters, 191 percent of the average, as the region has been affected by storms spreading west from the Balkans.
Water is a precious commodity on the dry east Mediterranean island, which desalinates more than a fifth of its household needs from the sea.
“We are expecting a drop in temperature with rain and snow possibly on the low grounds in coming days,” said Meteorological Service director Kyriakos Theofilou.
Cyprus suffers long periods of drought and has two water desalination units. Authorities last week said they had temporarily shelved plans to build a third because of the rainfall.