Spanish gov't apologizes for traffic chaos triggered by heavy snow

MADRID, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- As heavy snow over the weekend caused chaos on Spain's motorway, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Public Works, coming under sharp criticism from the opposition, apologized for the inconvenience, local media reported Tuesday.

The worst scenes happened on the AP-6 toll road in Segovia Province to the north of Madrid where around 3,000 vehicles were trapped by the snow as thousands of people were returning to the capital at the end of a holiday weekend. Some passengers remained trapped for up to 18 hours.

Though 240 members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) worked around the clock to get cars and passengers out of snowdrifts, the chaos led to criticism from opposition groups after Gregorio Serrano, head of the General Directorate of Traffic, reportedly said it was the fault of the drivers for setting out without paying attention to weather conditions.

Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido called a meeting of the Winter Roads Coordination Committee to review the actions of both government bodies and private companies over the weekend.

In a communique apologizing for the problems caused by the heavy snow, the committee said measures would be taken to improve the response to snowstorms that might block major roads.

They include greater flexibility in deploying the UME and enhancing resources for bad weather.

The Ministry of Public Works has also launched an investigation into the company which runs the AP-6 roads and how it managed the issue.

More snow is expected in western and central Spain over the next 48 hours. Enditem