Six dead and hundreds of flights canceled as snow wreaks havoc across Europe

Intense snowfall and icy weather conditions have widely disrupted travel across Europe, with six deaths in weather-related incidents on the continent.

Five people died in two separate regions of France due to dangerous driving conditions, authorities said, while a woman was also killed in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo after 40cm of snow fell on the city.

Hundreds of flights were canceled across Europe, and thousands remained stranded at airports in Paris and Amsterdam.

Disruptions are expected to continue until Wednesday.

In France, three people died in two separate incidents in Landes, in the southwest, due to icy conditions, authorities said.

Two others died in separate road accidents in the Paris region. One of them resulted from a collision between a driver and a heavy goods vehicle in eastern Paris, police said.

The other was killed after a taxi driver hit a curb due to snow and plunged into the Marne, the media outlet said.

The Balkans also experienced snow and heavy rain. A woman died Monday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo after a tree loaded with wet snow fell on her, police said.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said more snow was expected in the country on Tuesday evening and Wednesday. He called on people to travel on the roads as little as possible and to work from home.

The French national weather service said 38 departments would be placed on orange alert for snow and ice on Wednesday. Many train services have been canceled in parts of the country.

In the French capital, authorities announced that Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport would see 40% of its flights canceled for several hours on Wednesday morning, so staff could clear snow from the runways. Orly Airport, the capital, planned to cancel a quarter of its flights during the same period.

More than 400 flights were canceled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Wednesday, widely disrupting travel plans.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded, and many were unable to reach connecting flights. Long queues formed at airline counters as people waited for information on when flights would resume.

Most of the canceled flights were operated by Dutch airline KLM, which warned it was almost out of de-icing fluid for its planes. He blamed “extreme” weather conditions and supply delays.

At Schiphol Airport, many travelers have complained about long queues and a lack of information.

Spanish passenger Javier Sepulveda, who was trying to fly from Amsterdam to Norway, told the Reuters news agency that the situation at the airport was “chaotic, unacceptable, frustrating, annoying” and “totally unacceptable.”

He said he started queuing at KLM’s help desk at 6:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT) on Tuesday and six hours later was still far from the front of the line.

Schipol Airport said its “snow removal teams work around the clock to keep runways clear, and planes are carefully de-iced to ensure everyone can travel safely.”

Another 600 flights scheduled to depart from Schiphol on Wednesday were also canceled, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.

Rail travel was also disrupted.

On Tuesday morning, all train services in the Netherlands stopped for a short time after a computer outage.

Some trains started running after 09:00 local time (10:00 GMT) but problems persisted throughout the day. Eurostar services to Paris from Amsterdam have either been canceled or delayed.