In Europe, severe cold, snow causes deaths, accidents

GENEVA - Heavy snow and subzero temperatures swept across Europe, killing at least eight homeless people in Poland, closing major airports in Britain and Switzerland, and causing hundreds of highway accidents.

Gatwick, London's second-largest airport, and Geneva, a major hub for low-cost carrier easy Jet, were forced to shut down yesterday as staff struggled to clear runways of snow. Edinburgh airport in Scotland, Leeds airport in northern England, and Chambéry and Grenoble in southeastern France also were closed.

Eurocontrol, the central air control agency, reported severe flight delays in Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Prague and Paris Orly.

In Poland, police said eight men died Tuesday night after a bitter cold front roared in, with temperatures falling to around 4 below Fahrenheit. Police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said the men, from different parts of the country, had been drinking. The eastern Polish city of Bialystok hit 15 below Fahrenheit Tuesday night.

Winter weather caused some 2,000 accidents on German roads Tuesday, officials said.

In northern Austria, police said a 69-year-old retiree froze to death overnight when he slipped on a snow-covered bridge on his way home from a funeral and lost consciousness.

France's DGAC civil aviation authority asked airlines to cancel 25 percent of scheduled flights out of Charles de Gaulle airport and 10 percent of flights out of Orly airport in Paris today. The authority yesterday urged passengers flying out of the airports to check with their airlines.

Officials at Gatwick, south of London, said the airport would remain closed until early today, stranding about 600 flights that were expected to leave yesterday. Gatwick was under five to six inches of snow Wednesday morning and has seen continuous snowfall throughout the day, said spokeswoman Andrea Hopkins.