Christmas eve: Snow strands thousands in Europe

Dec 25, 2010 |

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Dec 25: Thousands of travellers were forced to spend the Christmas-eve at airport terminals, railway stations and on stalled trains in Germany as fresh snowfall and freezing conditions continue to cause travel chaos across Europe.

Snow-blocked runways forced the shut down of Germany's regional air hub in Duesseldorf for several hours on yesterday, leaving hundreds of holiday travellers stranded.

Even after the airport resumed its operation in the afternoon by opening one of the two runways, several flights were delayed for many hours as the snow-clearing teams struggled to keep the runway and aircraft free of ice.

Around 65 out of 335 flights scheduled for yesterday were cancelled and the remaining flights had long delays, according to an airport spokesman.

Heavy snowfall also forced the closure of another regional airport in Dortmund till late in the evening while the Cologne-Bonn airport reported long delays for its flights.

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