Six dead and hundreds of flights cancelled as snow causes chaos across Europe

Intense snowfall and icy weather conditions have caused widespread travel disruption across Europe, with six reported killed in weather-related incidents on the continent.

Five people died in two separate regions of France as a result of treacherous driving conditions, authorities said, while one woman was also killed in Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, after 16in (40cm) of snow fell on the city.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled across Europe, with thousands left stranded at airports in Paris and Amsterdam.

Disruption is expected to continue into Wednesday.

In France, three people died in two separate incidents in Landes, in the south-west, due to black ice, authorities said.

Two more died in separate motor accidents in the Paris region. One was the result of a collision between a driver and a heavy goods vehicle in east Paris, police said.

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

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

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

France’s national weather service said 38 districts would be placed on orange alert for snow and black ice on Wednesday. Many train services were cancelled in parts of the country.

In France’s capital, authorities said Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport would see 40% of its flights cancelled for several hours on Wednesday morning, so that staff could clear snow from the runways. The capital’s Orly airport planned to cancel a quarter of its flights during the same time period.

More than 400 flights were cancelled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Wednesday, causing widespread disruption to travel plans.

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

Many of the cancelled flights were operated by Dutch airline KLM, which warned it had nearly run out of de-icing fluid for its aircraft. It blamed the “extreme” weather conditions and supply delays.

At Schiphol airport, many travellers complained of long lines and a lack of information.

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

He said he started queuing at the KLM help desk at 06:30 local time (07:30 GMT) on Tuesday and that six hours later he was still far from the front of the line.

Schipol airport said its “snow crews are working around the clock to keep the runways clear, and aircraft are being carefully de-iced to ensure everyone can travel safely.”

A further 600 flights scheduled to take off from Schiphol on Wednesday have also been cancelled, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.

Rail journeys were also disrupted.

On Tuesday morning, all train services in the Netherlands stopped for a short period after an IT outage.

Some trains started running after 09:00 local time (10:00 GMT) but problems persisted during the day. Eurostar services to Paris from Amsterdam were either cancelled or running late.