Heavy snow blankets Bulgaria

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Heavy snowfall swept most of Bulgaria, blocking traffic on major roads across the country and leaving some 200 villages without electricity.

Andrei Ivanov, a civil defense official in Sofia, said snow was 16 inches deep and snowdrifts reached 6.6 feet high in northern and southern Bulgaria, the Bulgarian news agency SNA reported Wednesday.

Ivanov said the worst road situation was in the mountainous region in central Bulgaria where the major Shipka passage was closed to traffic.

Heavy winds and drifting snow led to several roads being closed in eastern Bulgaria, where hundreds of trucks were stranded on icy and snow-coated roads not far from the Black Sea coast.

Also, sections of highways linking Sofia, in western Bulgaria, with the Black Sea port towns of Varna and Burgas were closed.

Winds and snow hampered air traffic at Sofia's international airport with 28 flights canceled Wednesday, SNA said.