Cold weather causes chaos in Spain

The cold weather which has affected Spain for the past three days, and which looks certain to carry on into the weekend, continues to cause problems for travelers, especially in the northern regions of the country.

Freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls have caused train connections to the Autonomous Community of Asturias to be cancelled, while it is currently impossible to cross from the neighboring region of Cantabria into the province of Burgos as snow has closed the A-67 road between the two regions for the third consecutive day.

The Spanish military were called into action to rescue over 200 people who were stranded in their vehicles, many of them British tourists who had arrived by ferry to Santander, and many of them have already spent two nights sleeping in accommodation which has been set up in the town of Aguilar de Campoo.

Other roads in northern Spain have also been affected with the Community of Aragon and the north of Catalonia experiencing many minor road closures, while high winds have also caused problems for lorry traffic.

A driver died in the Madrid environs when his vehicle crashed off a bridge on a road made slippery by the frozen conditions.

The island of Mallorca has also been hit by the snow with five roads blocked. The Spanish Civil Guard had to rescue six German tourists who became trapped in the snow close to Sa Calobra in the north of the island.

With more cold air predicted to arrive during the day Friday and continuing on into Saturday, over 40 Spanish provinces remain on alert and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will preside over a meeting in order to assess the situation. Endit