Chilling: Fox frozen into a block of ice.

As extreme winter weather has gripped southern Germany’s Baden-Württemberg state, a drowned fox encased in a chilly block of ice highlights the dangers that abound as bitterly cold winters temperature sweeps across Europe.

The hunter fox fell through thin ice into the freezing waters of the Danube River near Fridingen on Jan 9.
A person who runs a guest house, and who lives mere meters away, first spotted the creature encased in the block of ice.

He returned a few days later with a chainsaw and with the help of his son, he carved the fox out of the water.
“I saw the fox’s back shimmering from the ice,” the 61-year said. “I took him out with a chainsaw at the beginning of January.”

The falling temperature in Europe is one of the main causes of rising deaths. Most of the deaths over the past week have been in central and south-eastern Europe, with homeless people and migrants stranded in Greece, Serbia and elsewhere most at risk

In Greece, on Wednesday, having been caught off guard and facing heavy criticism, the government sent a navy transport ship to the island of Lesbos, to house around 500 migrants still sleeping in tents. Greece also announced a nationwide week-long hunting ban because of the cold weather gripping most of the country