BUCHAREST, Jan. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Fifteen people have died and hundreds of others have suffered frostbite in a Siberian cold snap which has swept across Romania over the past 10 days, local media reported on Wednesday.
Most countries in central and eastern Europe have been hit by the big freeze which began on Jan. 15, with icy winds and heavy snow closing roads, schools and ports.
The dead, aged between 33 and 86, had suffered heart and respiratory problems caused by the cold temperatures, which had dropped to as low as minus 32 degrees Celsius in the central part of the country, according to the Romanian Health Ministry.
Meanwhile some parts of the capital are experiencing a shortage of natural gas supplies due to lower pressure in pipelines and a sharp increase in gas consumption.
Romania extracts 12.5-13.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year and imports 3.5 billion cubic meters from Russia.
Meteorologists have predicted that the cold weather would last a few more days.