Cold claims 3 lives in Lithuania over weekend

Vanda Pumputienė, deputy director of the Vilnius Emergency Medical Station, told BNS that paramedics had to declare deaths of two persons due to suspected cold in Salininkai and on Liepkalnio Street on Friday, in addition to another victim in the Viršuliškės neighborhood on Sunday morning.

“There were also seven individuals with frost bites to their hands and feet,” said Pumputienė.

Emergency stations of Kaunas and Klaipėda told BNS that no cold victims were reported over the weekend.

Teresė Kaunienė, senior specialist at the Meteorological Forecasts Division of the Hydrometeorological Service, told BNS that the past weekend was the coldest over the winter, with the lowest temperature reported in Ukmergė at -24C in early hours of Sunday and Monday.

“Depending on climate conditions, temperatures in separate locations could have been a few degrees lower,” said Kaunienė.

In her words, cold records of this winter and the past few decades were reported in western Lithuania.

“Klaipėda and Palanga topped the temperatures of the past 20 years. However, there was nothing very special – merely 15 degrees below zero. As the seaside region is often the warmest, Klaipėda topped the record by one degree with eastern wind this morning, while Palanga’s record was six degrees below the earlier,” said Kaunienė, adding that the cold spell in Lithuania would continue for the coming days.