9 Die Of Cold In Moscow In Week

MOSCOW (AP)--Sixty people have died of hypothermia in Moscow since Oct. 10, including nine who froze to death over the past week, medical officials said Monday.

Vsevelod Alexeyev of the Moscow medical directorate said an additional 90 people were hospitalized for exposure last week.

Temperatures in Moscow have been around freezing for most of the past week but dropped below 20 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend.

Hundreds of people freeze to death in Russia each year. Officials say most are homeless or people who pass out on the street after drinking alcohol.

Emergency room physicians said this week's relatively mild weather leads to more hypothermia deaths, because people are not forced to seek immediate shelter as they are during severe cold.