Cold snap hits east Asia, killing dozens and disrupting travel

Snow, sleet and icy winds across Asia caused deaths, flight cancellations and chaos over the weekend as areas used to basking in balmier climates struggled with record-low temperatures.

Unusually cold weather in eastern Asia has been blamed for more than 65 deaths, disrupted transportation and brought the first snow to a subtropical city in southern China in almost 50 years. 

Temperatures in Taiwan's capital of Taipei plunged to a 16-year low of 4 degrees Celsius, killing 57 mostly elderly people, according to government officials. The semi-official Focus Taiwan news website reported that 85 people had died because of the cold.

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A man clears snow from a walkway at Kanda Miyojin Shrine in Tokyo, Japan.

Planes were blanketed in snow at Jeju International Airport on Jeju island, South Korea

South Korean passengers were stranded at Jeju International Airport after flights were cancelled due to snow.

The snow was fun for some, at Beijing's Ice and Snow carnival.

Two giant pandas play on snow at China's Hangzhou Zoo.

Workers remove snow from railways at a train station at Nanchang in Jiangxi province, China.

Snow at Yangmungshan National Park in Taiwan, where dozens died from the cold.

People take a walk next to the ice flow in the Han River in Seoul, South Korea.

Most homes in subtropical Taiwan lack central heating, and the cold caused heart trouble and breathing problems for many of the victims, a city official said. Normally, temperatures in Taipei hover around 16 degrees C in January, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

The cold snap was blamed in the deaths of 40 people in the capital, Taipei, and 17 in neighbouring New Taipei City. The cold front also left nine centimetres of snow on Taipei's highest peak.

READ MORE: Death toll rises in US blizzard

Tourists walk in snow near the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China.

Heavy snow in western and central Japan left five people dead over the weekend and possibly a sixth on Monday.

Kyodo News service said the victims included a woman who fell from a roof while removing snow, a man in a weather-related traffic accident, another man found under a snow plough and a couple that fell into an irrigation channel, apparently while removing snow.

An 88-year-old woman in western Japan's Tottori prefecture died after a landslide hit her house before dawn on Monday, Kyodo and other media reported.

A giant panda plays in the snow at China's Hangzhou Zoo.

The heavy snow stranded motorists, delayed bullet train service and caused flight cancellations.

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Most parts of mainland China experienced their coldest weather in decades over the weekend. The southern city of Guangzhou, which has a humid subtropical climate, saw snow for the first time since 1967 on Sunday.

The cold led to at least four deaths - strawberry farmers who died of carbon monoxide poisoning when they turned up the heat in a greenhouse, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The cold spell coincided with the beginning of the 40-day travel rush for the Lunar New Year, which is on Feb. 8 this year, disrupting cars, flights and trains. More than 11,000 passengers were stranded at Kunming airport in southern Yunnan province.

Temperatures fell 8 to 16 degrees Celsius from Thursday to Sunday in parts of north China, and temperatures in central and eastern China were 6 to 8 degrees lower than average, Xinhua said.

The National Meteorological Bureau forecast that temperatures in southern China would drop another 3-8 degrees on Monday.

Temperatures in the South Korean capital, Seoul, fell to minus 18 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the lowest since 2001. On Saturday, Jeju Island received 12 centimetres of snow, the heaviest since 1984, and its airport was closed from Saturday until Monday.

The shutdown stranded about 86,000 people, mostly tourists, on the island and forced the cancellations of about 1100 flights, according to Transport Ministry and airport officials.

 - AP

Source: Cold snap hits east Asia, killing dozens and disrupting travel