100,000 Czech railway travelers stranded due to freezing cold weather

Around 100,000 passengers are stranded across the Czech Republic due to the disruption of the railway system

Around 100,000 passengers have been stranded across the Czech Republic due to the disruption of the railway service as a result of freezing cold weather.

"Several hundred passenger trains were cancelled or delayed," Czech Railways said on its website on Tuesday.

Czech railways authority said the disruption occurred after ice encased overhead power lines and brought railway traffic to a halt.

According to the officials, the freezing began on Monday and continued into Tuesday.

They added that people were forced to spend the night, when temperatures dropped to a low of minus 7.3 Celsius (19.4 Fahrenheit), in cold trains and at railway stations.

Czech Railways called on people to defer their trips to the time when the situation is normal.

The cold also caused power cuts and many road accidents across the country.

According to the authorities, flights at Prague's main Vaclav Havel airport were not disrupted by the cold weather.

The arctic weather also cancelled the departure of a group of soldiers heading for Afghanistan after their plane failed to take off from Prague-Kbely military airport.