A cold snap and heavy snows across much of Europe disrupted air, rail and road traffic yesterday, while four people died in an avalanche that covered chalets in the French Alps.
The tragedy in the ski resort region of Chamonix in the French Alps brought the death toll in the past two days of harsh weather to 11.
Near the village of Tour, rescue teams rushed to the site where 11 chalets were uprooted by the avalanche, killing four including a three-year-old girl, police said.
Four others were reported missing, while a further 20 people were rescued suffering slight injuries or shock.
A British skier was also swept away in an avalanche high in the French Savoy region, but the threat of fresh avalanches forced 200 rescue workers to abandon their search for the man.
The heavy snows - almost 1.5 metres - fell on the region in two days - and avalanche risks also closed the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy yesterday afternoon. The tunnel was expected to reopen this morning, after explosives were used on both sides of the mountain to prevent avalanches.
In the Swiss county of Valais, there were three separate avalanches. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The bad weather caused one death in Scotland, one in the Czech Republic, and three in Poland, and a further two in Switzerland, police and weather services said.
In England and Wales temperatures fell to 5C but there were only light coverings of snow.
Thousands of holidaymakers were again stranded in western Austrian ski resorts yesterday after further heavy snowfalls blocked mountain passes and raised fears of avalanches.