Thousands of Bulgarians spent a freezing night without central heating, and some companies and schools did not operate yesterday after Russian gas supplies were halted to Southeastern Europe. About 12,000 households in Bulgaria's third-largest city of Varna, on the Black Sea, and 3,800 in the northeastern town of Razgrad have been left in the cold because utilities need time to switch to alternative fuels, municipal officials said.
Heating has been sharply reduced in the capital Sofia despite sub-zero temperatures outside, and dozens of schools and kindergartens are not opening in the Balkan country of 7.6 million people.
In Romania, the government declared a state of emergency yesterday as deliveries of Russian gas ceased entirely, but the government insisted the country had sufficient reserves to last up to 80 days.
The Bosnian capital Sarajevo was also hard hit yesterday by the halt in deliveries, reviving memories of similar hardships during the 1992-1995 war, and officials fear a possible humanitarian crisis if the gas flow is not restored soon. Sarajevo, freezing at minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), was hit hardest since most of the city households rely on gas heating.
(KATHIMERINI, 01/07/2009)