Heavy Snow Closes Balkan Highways

A sudden onslaught of winter weather in the Balkans shut down highways and Black Sea ports, and contributed to a dozen traffic deaths in Romania.

In besieged Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, two days of heavy snow on Sunday and Monday caused a rash of traffic accidents and briefly closed a critical supply route. But an Oct. 12 truce that restored electricity and gas made the onset of winter less ominous than in the previous three years.

In Bulgaria, 12-foot-high waves Monday led officials to close the Black Sea port of Varna. Romania’s Black Sea port of Sulina, on the Danube River delta, also was closed.

Romanian traffic police said 12 people died in weather-related traffic accidents Sunday. Drifting snow and snowslides also closed several main train routes.

Bulgarian officials said stormy weather caused a backup of 150 trucks and buses on the main route south to Greece and Macedonia.