European Death Toll From Avalanches, Cold Is Over 60 : Big Ben Chimes Freeze; Snow Falls in Monaco

Soldiers in the Soviet Union and Sweden worked today to rescue and feed people trapped by Arctic-like snows and winds that have triggered avalanches, cut power and led to more than 60 deaths across a frigid Europe.

The Siberian cold brought snow to usually sunny Monaco, and the chimes on London’s famous Big Ben froze.

Temperatures plunged across Europe, and snow and cold disrupted road, rail and sea traffic. Radio Moscow said 19 vessels were locked in the ice of the harbor of Leningrad, and train delays of 12 hours were reported in Sweden.

Norwegian meteorologists said it was warmer near the North Pole--where settlements reported a balmy 32 degrees--than in parts of Europe. In London, for example, the thermometer plunged to 16 degrees on the coldest night in 40 years.

More than 60 people have died in the two-week spell of severe weather that has spread from the Soviet Union to the Mediterranean, bringing heavy snowfalls and record low temperatures.

Leningrad Hard Hit

The freeze is expected to lift in Moscow in the next 48 hours, but temperatures in Leningrad are expected to remain near record lows for up to a week.

Leningrad, on the Baltic Sea, was one of the worst-hit cities in Europe, with temperatures equaling a record low of 45 below zero. Radio Moscow described the situation as “serious.”

Avalanches triggered by up to 15 feet of snow in the Soviet republic of Georgia killed nearly 30 people and left hundreds stranded in the worst snowstorm in 50 years, the Soviet press agency Tass said.

Tass said units of the Soviet army were sent into Georgia to rescue people from 50 villages and settlements buried beneath record snowfalls. Electricity and food were in short supply in the Caucasus mountains, the newspaper Izvestia said.

Tass said high-ranking Communist Party officials are overseeing army relief efforts, an indication that the situation is very serious. Tass described the avalanches as a “calamity.”

Resorts Evacuated

Izvestia said hundreds of residents and tourists were evacuated from ski and health resorts near Mt. Elrubus in the Caucasus.

Stockholm experienced its coldest day in 112 years Saturday, and the bitter cold, which approached 40 below, caused power cuts of up to six hours, leaving much of the city without heat.

The Swedish government warned of the possibility of electricity rationing because of the record demand for power. Water in Stockholm’s harbor froze. Three people were killed in Sweden because of the weather--two in a train crash caused by a frozen switch and one in a car accident on an icy road.

The Swedish army was called out to help feed people on the island of Oland, cut off from the mainland by heavy snow. Record low temperatures were set in neighboring Finland.