Villagers Chase off Wolves in Deadly Balkan Freeze

[Anonymous]

Feb 11, 2005 - Snowbound villagers fought off starving wolves (at least one person was devoured by wolves) as a Siberian frost gripped much of the Balkans for the second week in a row, killing at least a dozen people. Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania all registered record or near-record low temperatures. In Karajukica Bunari on the Serbia-Montenegro border the temperature fell to -34C (-29F), almost breaking the record of -38.4 set in January 1954. Temperatures in Sevlievo, Bulgaria fell to -34C, breaking a 50-year record, and the River Danube was iced up in dozens of places from Hungary to Romania.

"We expect the lower Danube to be completely iced by tomorrow," said the Bulgarian state news agency BTA. Temperatures dropped to minus 36C in eastern Romania. The Black Sea coast reported frozen snowdrifts more than 2 meters (6 feet) deep, and many roads were closed. In Macedonia, where temperatures dipped below minus 25C, an army captain was found frozen solid just 300 meters (yards) from his border post in the Sar mountains on the Kosovo border. The Bosnian Serb capital Banja Luka, recorded its lowest temperatures in 20 years.

In Albania and western Kosovo, villagers in remote areas had to drive off wolves and wild boar searching for food. Villages lie two metres (six feet) deep in snow in the mountains near Elbasan. In Kosovo, temperatures hovered below minus 20C. A state of emergency was in force in the Serbian town of Sjenica, near the Montenegro border, after six days of minus 30 degree frost.
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