Heavy snow shuts roads and railways in Germany

BERLIN - Heavy fresh snow temporarily shut main roads and railways in the north of Germany Saturday, prompting rail company Deutsche Bahn to deploy every available snow-plough to clear the drifts.

Mecklenburg West Pomerania state on the Baltic coast, which has been covered in snow since mid-December, was worst affected, with main highways closed by jack-knifed trucks and other skidding accidents. Even two snow-clearance vehicles became trapped.

All public bus services in the port city of Rostock ceased while city workers struggled to reopen the streets, and the city football club, Hansa Rostock, called off its second division game Saturday.

“The ground is unplayable: we’ve had 30 centimetres of new snow and the blizzard hasn’t finished,” said spokesman Karsten Lehmann.

The railway company said it had called out every available snow-clearance team to re-open its main lines.

In the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, police counted 300 road accidents attributable to ice and snow. Many highways were closed for hours on end overnight while tow-trucks hauled away the wrecks.

One man was killed, apparently when he got out of his car after a motorway accident and was then run over by another vehicle.