Many of the victims were the elderly or homeless, with Romania and Poland being the worst affected.

The weather played a role in at least 24 deaths in Romania and Bulgaria over the past three days.

Homeless people are the most vulnerable

In Poland, 36 people died, most of them homeless or others who passed out in the cold after drinking alcohol, police said.

Temperatures in central and eastern Poland over the weekend were as low as minus -20°C.

In France, at least eight people have so far died because of the cold weather.

After a very cold weekend, temperatures in most parts of France on Monday did not rise much above freezing.

On Monday night, the Paris authorities decided to leave a metro station open to provide shelter for homeless people.

They said the station, Bonne Nouvelle, situated in the centre of the city, would remain open for the next few nights if temperatures continued to remain unseasonally low.

Windsurfing on a frozen Warsaw lake

Overnight shelters in Paris are unable to cope with number of people seeking a place to stay and the city council announced that it was providing 3,000 extra places in emergency accommodation to cope with the current crisis.

Hospitals are organising search parties for those sleeping rough on the streets.

For Eastern Europe weather forecasters predict higher temperatures in the next few days, but in France the weather is expected to remain cold until the end of the week.