BERLIN — A plane slid off an icy runway and powerful winds and heavy snow forced hundreds of flight cancellations across Europe on Saturday as blasts of freezing cold buffeted Britain and Germany.
An Air Berlin plane slid off the runway in Nuremberg, Germany, and got stuck in the snow late Friday. Nobody was injured, but the airport was closed for more than two hours.
More than 300 car accidents were reported on icy streets in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, with more than 40 people injured. The western state of North Rhine-Westphalia reported 108 accidents.
At the German-French border near Freiburg, hundreds of trucks were stuck for hours when French authorities closed the highway because of heavy snow. The Red Cross handed out blankets and hot soup to the drivers.
By early afternoon, 226 domestic and international flights had been canceled at Frankfurt airport as a low-pressure system from the Mediterranean brought gusty winds and several inches of snow.
In Britain, cold winds swept in from the north, sending temperatures tumbling to 7 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of Scotland and northern England. The country is in the midst of its longest cold snap in three decades.
In Berlin, even the mice were desperate to escape the cold: Swarms of them have taken over the Bundestag, the country’s parliament, the daily newspaper Bild reported.
