Russia's brutal early winter claims 123 lives
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Two women walk during a snowfall at air temperature minus 8 deg C in Russia's southern city of Stavropol, Dec 25, 2012. A bitter cold spell in Russia has claimed 123 lives in the past 10 days, an official said on Tuesday, with the unseasonably early freeze testing authorities in a country used to notoriously tough winters. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A woman walks past trees covered with heavy hoarfrost and snow on the bank of the Yenisei River, with the air temperature at about minus 26 deg C, outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
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A woman walks past trees covered with heavy hoarfrost and snow on the bank of the Yenisei River, with the air temperature at about minus 26 deg C, outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
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A man walks past snowy trees in a park, with the air temperature at about minus 8 deg C, in Russia's southern city of Stavropol, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
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A couple embrace in a park with snowy trees seen around, with the air temperature at about minus 8 deg C, in Russia's southern city of Stavropol, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
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A dog runs past a Soviet-era tank, with the air temperature at about minus 8 deg C, in a park of Russia's southern city of Stavropol, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
Two women walk during a snowfall at air temperature minus 8 deg C in Russia's southern city of Stavropol, Dec 25, 2012. A bitter cold spell in Russia has claimed 123 lives in the past 10 days, an official said on Tuesday, with the unseasonably early freeze testing authorities in a country used to notoriously tough winters. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A woman walks past trees covered with heavy hoarfrost and snow on the bank of the Yenisei River, with the air temperature at about minus 26 deg C, outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
A woman walks past trees covered with heavy hoarfrost and snow on the bank of the Yenisei River, with the air temperature at about minus 26 deg C, outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
A man walks past snowy trees in a park, with the air temperature at about minus 8 deg C, in Russia's southern city of Stavropol, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
A couple embrace in a park with snowy trees seen around, with the air temperature at about minus 8 deg C, in Russia's southern city of Stavropol, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
A dog runs past a Soviet-era tank, with the air temperature at about minus 8 deg C, in a park of Russia's southern city of Stavropol, on Dec 24, 2012. Russia endures an abnormally cold winter, the most severe in more than 70 years, according to local media. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
MOSCOW (AFP) - A bitter cold spell in Russia has claimed 123 lives in the past 10 days, an official said on Tuesday, with the unseasonably early freeze testing authorities in a country used to notoriously tough winters.
Temperatures have plunged to up to minus 30 deg C in the Moscow region and up to minus 60 deg C in Eastern Siberia.
"Since the start of the cold, 123 people have died of exposure and frostbite," a medical source was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
In the past 24 hours, 201 people had to be hospitalised to be treated for hypothermia and frostbite, including 14 children, the source added.
