ITALY: Country hit by a cold spell, with rare snowfall in capital Rome and salvage workers on the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner struggling with rough weather conditions on the island of Giglio

Record ID: 333217

  • Title: ITALY: Country hit by a cold spell, with rare snowfall in capital Rome and salvage workers on the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner struggling with rough weather conditions on the island of Giglio
  • Date: 4th February 2012
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 3, 2012) (REUTERS) COLOSSEUM SNOWFALL OVER STREET SNOW FALLING OVER TRAFFIC SNOWFALL BY TREES PEOPLE IN THE STREET WITH UMBRELLAS VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC BY COLOSSEUM TRAFFIC NEAR THE ROMAN FORUM TOURISTS ON SEGWAYS PEOPLE WALKING WITH UMBRELLAS TRAFFIC BY THE ROMAN FORUM GIGLIO, ITALY (FEBRUARY 3, 2012) (REUTERS) WAVES HITTING ROCKS WITH CAPSIZED SHIP AT DISTANCE VARIOUS OF ROUGH WEATHER AROUND CAPSIZED SHIP RESCUE DINGHY IN ROUGH WATERS VARIOUS OF ROUGH WEATHER CONDITIONS AROUND CAPSIZED SHIP
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAC1HV7MP21VX45UO53N596FF93
  • Story Text: Italy was hit by a bitter chill on Friday (February 3), with a rare snowfall in Rome.
    Days of heavy rain in Rome turned into snow late on Thursday (February 2) evening and Friday morning.
    Lessons in the capital's schools were cancelled on Friday and Saturday (February 4).
    Rough weather and snowfall in the country's northern and central parts have caused disruptions to traffic on roads, railways and air.
    There were still delays and cancellations to railway services on Friday but the situation on motorways and airports was improving, authorities said.
    On the island of Giglio, rescuers battled rough weather conditions to continue salvage and rescue operations on the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner.
    In the country's financial capital Milan, a homeless person was reported to have died from the cold on Thursday (February 2).
    Near Bologna, rail passengers were stuck on a train after overhead wires froze on Thursday. A second train sent to rescue them suffered the same fate and it took rescuers seven hours to eventually free its cold and angry travellers.
    At the nearby Maranello test track, Ferrari was forced to cancel the launch of its 2012 Formula One car due to icy conditions.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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