Cold front sweeps Greece, fisherman killed

A cold front swept Greece overnight, bringing snowfalls and strong winds to a large part of the country. A fisherman was killed in the bad weather.

The 53-year-old victim went missing Wednesday night when the wooden boat he was on board with his son capsized in the cold spell.

The 10-year-old boy managed to swim to the shore while winds of up to 6 on the Beaufort scale were blowing in the area, which usually means wind speed of 39-49 km/h and 3-4 meters high wave.

The body of the fisherman was recovered on Thursday in the sea area near the Corinth canal, about 100 kilometers west of Athens, the Coast Guard announced.

The cold front is affecting a large part of Greece from north to south with precipitation. Many places have seen snowfalls by Thursday.

The snow has forced hours shutdown of some regional roads.

And ferry service across the country was interrupted on Thursday due to gales on the Aegean Sea.

The cold front also caused temperature plunge with minus 5 degrees Celsius was forecast for several parts of the country.

Meteorologists warned that the weather conditions may worsen on Friday before improving on New Year's Eve.

Amid the cold spell, the central government and local authorities announced that they had opened heated shelters for the 25,000 homeless people and were trying to provide more aid to the some 62,000 refugees and migrants accommodated in dozens of facilities nationwide. Enditem