Blizzard traps British skiers in buses in Pyrenees

PERPIGNAN, France, Feb 14 (AFP) – Some 300 people, most of them Britons on ski vacation packages, spent a night trapped on board their coaches in the Pyrenees mountain range separating France and Spain after getting caught in a sudden snow storm, officials said Monday.

The groups – which included at least 42 children – had been on their way to or from the tiny principality of Andorra when the blizzard struck Sunday, blocking their road and leaving them stuck in the six coaches.

The drivers kept the engines running through the night and into Monday to provide on-board heat until French authorities were able to get to them with a fleet of seven snow-ploughs and six mini-buses and transport them all to nearby towns, where they were lodged.

Officials warned that roads were nearly completely closed in the region because of several metres (feet) of snowfall. The forecast was for more snow and below-freezing weather in the days to come.