At least nine of the victims were homeless, mirroring a trend in Russia which is experiencing the coldest winter in a generation and where the current cold snap originated.

Five people, most of them homeless, froze to death in Croatia in the past two days, the leading daily Vecernji List reported, quoting police sources.

Most of Georgia was without electricity when its power network went down, leaving the tiny state shivering in sub-zero temperatures.

High winds and bad weather cut a power line, pitching the eastern half of the country into darkness. The capital, Tbilisi, was also without electricity after a unit at a power station collapsed under the strain of having to work at full capacity.

Romania and its southern neighbour Bulgaria have closed Black Sea ports because of high winds, heavy seas and ice.

Freezing temperatures and snowfall disrupted road traffic and flights in Italy and Germany. Frankfurt airport, continental Europe's busiest, had to cancel around 20 inbound and outbound flights and early morning flights were delayed by up to an hour.

At Stuttgart in southwestern Germany, a Swiss airline Embraer 145 jet with 40 passengers on board skidded off the runway after landing. No one was injured but the airport was closed to incoming planes for around two hours.

Canals and rivers in Germany and a number of neighbouring countries froze, disrupting transport of grain and other cargo.

Most scientists say global warming will make weather more extreme, ranging from floods to heatwaves. But they say that specific events like Hurricane Katrina in the United States last year or the current freeze cannot be blamed on a changing climate.

OLYMPIC SNOW

The freeze has taken a heavy toll on lives across eastern and northern Europe and has now pushed south.

Eight people have died over the last three days in Bulgaria in temperatures of around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4F).

Three people froze to death in Serbia, where temperatures have hovered around minus 15 degrees Celsius.

In the mountainous northeast of Montenegro, morning temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees and there was snow even on southern Albania's Ionian coast.

Much of northern Italy was blanketed by snow in freezing temperatures -- good news at least for the organisers of next month's Winter Olympics in Turin.

Snow finally fell on the ski resort of Sestriere, which will host the Alpine skiing races at the Games, after snow cannons had been firing non-stop to make up for an unusually dry season.

"It's been snowing in Sestriere. It's good also for the scenery," Mayor Andrea Maria Colarelli told Reuters.