The cold weather in Slovakia has claimed four victims since January 1. All of them died of hypothermia, the TASR newswire reported.
The people were found in the Bratislava, Trnava, Prešov and Košice Regions, said Jozef Minár of the Operational Centre of the Rescue Service (OSZZS).
Rescuers had to deal with seven incidents on January 6, while they helped in six cases on January 7, four on January 8 and four on January 9. They did not report any cases of hypothermia however, until the early afternoon of January 10.
Temperatures hit record lows in Slovakia Read more January 6 was the first arctic day in Slovakia this winter. The frosts also continued during the weekend and into the beginning of the week.
The rescuers do not recommend that people drink alcohol. Some of the people suffering from hypothermia were drunk.
“People can fall and lose consciousness and if they are not noticed it may have fatal consequences,” Boris Chmel of OSZZS said, as quoted by TASR.
Alcohol is also dangerous for homeless people who may fall asleep in frosts and freeze to death, he added.
