Bulgaria Hit Hardest As Supplies Dwindle

Schools, kindergartens and businesses across Bulgaria were closed yesterday because of fitful gas supplies and at least one city had no central heating, as the country emerged as the worst affected in the EU by the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians were left without central heating in a country which receives 96% of its gas from Russia, prompting a scramble for electric heaters and other means of keeping warm. Other parts of the Balkans, particularly Bosnia, were similarly stricken, with radiators going cold overnight and workers sent home from premises too cold to operate in.

"This situation is anything but normal. It's extremely cold in the apartments. I hope it ends before we freeze and run out of money," said Bogdan Marinov. He said he had problems finding electric heaters in the shops - all the cheap appliances had sold out, forcing him to buy a costly £150 model. The electric grid may be pushed to the brink of collapse if everyone plugs in heaters instead.

Dimo Parvanov, a father of two, said he would have to buy an alternative heating source because his younger child was a toddler. "I don't have an alternative. We don't have gas heating and I can't build a fireplace in the apartment and use wood to keep the cold out. So electricity is the only way. I don't know what will happen if the electric supply is cut down too, as it was said in the media."

He is aware that the crisis came from abroad, but also blames the local authorities in light of the information that Russia warned Bulgaria of the possible gas shutdown on 18 December. "What I don't get is why the authorities didn't act when they were told about the problem. Now they act as if they were told about it yesterday."

Patients in Bulgarian hospitals have been feeling the cold too. Several hospitals said they would not take new patients and started letting the less sick go home.

Residents of Burgas, Bulgaria's fourth-largest city, have had no central heating since yesterday morning after a breakdown in the local utility plant. Authorities claim that failure took place because of the sharp decrease in temperature in the city's pipes, which the Burgas utility company blamed on the lack of gas.

A drastic fall in temperatures in hospitals, schools and apartments is expected today if the breakdown is not fixed, and there are fears that the temperature could drop as low as -12C in the coming days.

Several companies were forced to shut down operations because of their dependence on the gas supply.