SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A snowstorm across the Balkans brought traffic chaos, closed schools and left thousands of homes without electricity in Croatia and Bosnia on Monday, while the bad weather hampered efforts in Slovenia to reach two hikers stranded in the Alps.
The hikers from Hungary – a man and a woman – got lost on Sunday in poor weather conditions in the mountains north of the capital Ljubljana, the STA news agency reported. One of them has a broken leg, it said.
The report said that a rescue mission, which was suspended overnight due to high winds, low visibility and avalanche risk, resumed on Monday, but a helicopter could not take off in bad weather to reach the pair who remain at the altitude of 1,700 meters (5,600 feet), officials and media said.
“We are getting closer, but I don’t think we can finish before evening,” said Jernej Lanišek, who heads the rescue mission. Some 40 rescuers have joined the effort, he added.
In neigbhoring Croatia, traffic was banned on most roads in the central Lika region and along some sections of motorways. Storms along the Adriatic Sea coastline also shut down ferries to the islands.
The authorities in Croatia and Bosnia urged citizens to avoid travel because of bad weather.
Bosnia’s government suspended classes on Monday in schools in a northwest part of the country due to heavy snow. Nearly 200,000 homes faced power outages, while trucks and other heavy vehicles were banned from roads in many parts. Drivers were warned to observe a “high level of caution” and to not travel without winter equipment.
The snowstorm is forecast to move on to Serbia, where meteorologists warned people in western parts of the country to avoid travel and prepare for possible power cuts.
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