Power cut fear in big freeze

Serbia is struggling to keep its power system going after weeks of record low temperatures, at times reaching -36C.

The Serb state power company yesterday said the network could not hold up much longer and authorities urged Serbs to save electricity in an appeal aired on national television.

The company said it could only meet the present, very high level of demand for another week, and announced that heavy industry would be switched off first.

“We have hit the limit with imports, too, because of the very difficult situation in the region,” said Zoran Manasijevic, a senior official at the state electric company.