Frost claims first lives this winter

Prague, Dec 9 (CTK) - Seven people have been killed by cold weather this weekend, becoming the first victims of the sudden strong frosts this winter, according to the police information.

All have probably died of exposure, which is yet to be verified by autopsies.

On Saturday, a 47-year-old homeless woman was found early morning at the bus station in Roznov pod Radhostem, north Moravia, close to the Slovak border.

Two men died in Plavy, north Bohemia, and near Hradec Kralove, east Bohemia, also on Saturday.

In the Liberec region where Plavy is situated the temperature was somewhere as low as 20 degrees Celsius below zero and in Jizerka in the Jizera Mountains it was even -27.8 degrees.

Further victims have been reported from Ostrava, north Moravia, and Uhersky Brod, south Moravia, on Sunday.

In Ostrava, the police investigate the death of a man, probably homeless, who was found dead under a bridge, local police spokeswoman Gabriela Holcakova told CTK.

Elsewhere in the Ostrava region, another two dead men were found in the town Frydek-Mistek and in a small village in the Novy Jicin district. Both probably succumbed to frost.

The last victim is a homeless man whom his friends found dead in an abandoned house he inhabited, South Moravian police spokesman Ales Mergental told CTK.