Icy weather freezes beach resorts

Parts of the Black Sea near the Romanian coastline have frozen as a severe cold spell continues to keep Eastern Europe in its icy grip. Temperatures in Romania plunged to minus 32.5 degrees Celsius (minus 26.5 Fahrenheit), and six homeless people died in the past 24 hours of hypothermia, the health ministry reported. Hundreds of other people were sent to shelters to protect them from the extreme cold.

Parts of the Black Sea near the Romanian coastline have frozen as a severe cold spell continues to keep Eastern Europe in its icy grip. Temperatures in Romania plunged to minus 32.5 degrees Celsius (minus 26.5 Fahrenheit), and six homeless people died in the past 24 hours of hypothermia, the health ministry reported. Hundreds of other people were sent to shelters to protect them from the extreme cold.

At the Black Sea beach resort of Constanta, the waters washing onto the beach were frosted over, so that people were able to walk on the frozen shallows.
The port of Mangalia, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Constanta was also shut.
Braving the blistering cold, people gathered on the seafront in Constanta to take photos of the icy scene, where icicles formed on rocks and stones looked like sculptures.

Constanta's port, which lies around 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of the Romanian capital Bucharest, was closed to both touristic and commercial shipping.