New Delhi: Heavy snowfall and blizzards continued to batter the UK on Friday.

The army was called in to rescue hundreds of drivers stranded in sub-zero temperature on roads across the UK, assist the emergency services and help ferry hospital staff to work. One driver working for Greggs bakery handed out doughnuts and cakes from his lorry to people stuck in their cars on A1.

Meanwhile, hundreds of rail passengers were trapped in freezing temperature on trains all night on Thursday night. Major incidents were declared across the south west of the UK and by Friday afternoon the death toll had risen to 11 after a 70-year-old man died after going for a walk on the Torquay cliffs.

On Thursday a seven-yearold girl pedestrian was killed when a car veered off the road in icy conditions and smashed into a house in Cornwall and a 52-year-old homeless man was found dead inside his freezing tent. Others were found dead lying in the snow or killed in road accidents.

More than 200 people were trapped all night on a South Western Railway train from Cardiff to Bournemouth without heating after the train got stranded due to electrical problems. They were finally rescued on Friday morning. A South Western Railway spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise to passengers who were stranded on trains overnight. Our staff, together with Network Rail have battled tirelessly throughout the night to try to get trains moving in very challenging conditions.” Rail passengers were advised not to travel.

The disruptive weather was caused by freezing winds and heavy snow showers from Siberia, nicknamed the ‘Beast from the East’, which hit the UK on Monday, that then collided with Storm Emma, a deep area of low pressure that came across the Atlantic that first hit Portugal and then ripped through the UK on Thursday night, bringing heavy snow, freezing rain and gusts of 60mph to 70mph wreaking havoc.