Killer Storm Spreads Snow, Ice Across Europe : Weather: Snow closes schools and airports, causes traffic accidents but is boon to ski resorts.

A killer storm blowing out of Siberia sent temperatures plunging below freezing today across Europe, with London snowbound, the canals of Venice frozen over for the first time since 1985 and snow showers on the French Riviera.

In eastern France, two men, a retired member of the Foreign Legion and a vagrant, died of exposure as the temperature plunged to 1 degree.

Two English teen-agers were killed in a weather-related traffic accident, and a couple in the British Midlands were found dead of apparent gas poisoning in their snowbound cottage.

The Royal Automobile Club received 20,000 calls for help Thursday, its busiest day in 94 years.

In Germany, a truck loaded with orange juice slid and turned over on one of the major highways and within seconds turned part of the autobahn into an orange-colored ice skating rink.

Snow forced the cancellation of horse races at Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean.

The snow, falling from Yugoslavia to Britain and piling up more than three feet in places, shut schools and airports, caused traffic accidents and warmed the hearts of Austrian ski resort operators.

In Britain, hundreds of motorists trapped on windy, snowbound highways spent the night in their cars enduring the worst winter weather in four years. Travelers were advised to stay home today because many roads were nearly impassable or closed and air and ground public transportation were crippled.

Commuters who did venture out struggled for hours to reach work. One intrepid woman, carrying a small wooden sled, traveled on the London’s Docklands Light Railroad to visit her grandchildren for a day in the snow.

Snow was good for business in low-lying winter sports areas of Germany such as the Eifel region southwest of Bonn, and ice-skating made a comeback after a series of mild winters.

Police reported icy streets and dangerous driving conditions in the Black Forest and the Alps.

Newspapers said cheese sellers at an open market in the Black Forest could not sell their wares because they had frozen, and at Duisburg zoo, keepers put straw on frozen ponds so flamingos would not freeze to the ice.

In Venice, the frozen canals prevented food deliveries to the city center, and police sealed off part of the Florence-Bologna highway Thursday night, causing a traffic jam 10 miles long.

Heavy snow was welcomed by jobless Hungarians, with teams of workers hired to clear streets and pavements in Budapest.

Dutch canals were frozen, blocking barges which form a vital link between Rotterdam and other ports. But skaters hope the freeze continues for another week so that a 125-mile marathon over the frozen canals and lakes of the northern province of Friesland can be held for the first time since 1986.