Rescuers reach a stranded hiker in Slovenia but another is missing during a Balkans snowstorm

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This article was published 23/12/2024 (304 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A snowstorm across the Balkans brought traffic chaos, closed schools and left thousands of homes without electricity in Croatia and Bosnia on Monday, while the weather hampered efforts in Slovenia to reach two hikers stranded in the Alps.

The hikers from Hungary — a man and a woman — got lost Sunday in poor weather in the mountains north of the capital, Ljubljana, the STA news agency reported. One has a broken leg, it said.

The report said a rescue mission that was suspended overnight due to high winds and avalanche risk resumed Monday, but a helicopter could not take off in bad weather to reach the pair at an altitude of 1,700 meters (5,600 feet), officials and media said.

Rescuers by mid-afternoon reached the woman but were unable to immediately locate the injured man, said Jernej Lanišek, who leads the rescue mission.

In Bosnia, a Turkish woman and her daughter got their car stuck in snow on Prenj mountain in the south and were pulled out by a mountain rescue team.

In Croatia, traffic was banned on most roads in the central Lika region and along some sections of motorways. Storms along the Adriatic Sea coastline shut down ferries to the islands and halted traffic on roads toward central areas.

All bus departures from the coastal town of Split toward the capital, Zagreb, were cancelled Monday, regional N1 television reported.

Authorities in Croatia and Bosnia urged citizens to avoid travel.

Bosnia’s government suspended classes Monday in schools in the northwest due to heavy snow. Nearly 200,000 homes faced power outages, while trucks and other heavy vehicles were banned from roads in many areas.

The snowstorm is forecast to move to Serbia, where meteorologists warned people in the west to avoid travel and prepare for possible power cuts.