Eight people died from exposure in Poland over the last 24 hours, raising this winter's cold weather death toll to 199, National Police Headquarters reported Saturday, according to DPA. Seventy-six of the victims died during the last 9 days which saw temperatures dip below minus 30 Celsius as an Arctic cold front swept across Poland. Alcohol abuse played a lethal role in some 90 per cent of the cases. Despite police efforts to rescue homeless and intoxicated persons off the streets, the cold weather death toll is expected to rise in the coming days as forecasts are for weather still going down to a deadly minus 15 degrees overnight. Police statistics show that cold claimed 190 lives last year.
