ANKARA, Jan. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Severe winter, particularly heavy snowfall, paralyzed daily life throughout Turkey as traffic was hampered and villages were isolated, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday.

   Ferry and sea shuttle services between Istanbul, the largest Turkish city, and Yalova, Mudanya and Erdek respectively have been cancelled due to heavy snowfall, according to the report.

   Officials were quoted as saying that 47 Turkish and foreign ships and tankers have anchored off the northwestern town of Sarkoy near  Istanbul due to storm on the Marmara Sea.

   Flights between Samsun and Istanbul, and between Diyarbakir and Istanbul were cancelled while flights from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were delayed due to efforts to clean the runway.

   Istanbul-Gaziantep, Istanbul-Kahramanmaras, Ankara-Kahramanmaras, and Istanbul-Kars flights were the other flights cancelled due to heavy snowfall.

   Trabzon Airport along the Black Sea was also shut down since visibility range was only 700 meters around the airport.

   Mustafa Yildirim, head of Weather Forecast Service in Istanbul, announced that Istanbul will remain snowy on Tuesday and Wednesday, saying that the snowfall will lose vigor on Thursday and end on Friday.

   Ankara, capital of Turkey, is also hit by severe winter conditions and snowfall will continue in coming days, said a Turkish official, adding that the Ankara Municipality has taken all necessary measures against possible snowfall and icy roads.

   Meanwhile, 1,080 village roads have been closed in northern provinces of Samsun, Ordu and Amasya due to snowfall.

   The Weather Department has warned citizens against avalanche in eastern Turkey, saying that 966 village roads are blocked in eastern provinces of Van, Agri and Hakkari.

   The severe cold snap and snowfall also contributed to an increase in traffic accidents and gas leakage.

   Nine people were killed and 11 others injured on Monday when a municipality bus carrying staff of the Turkish Foreign Ministry hit another bus on the slippery Istanbul highway in Ankara.

   In addition, 28 people were poisoned by carbon monoxide gas which leaked out of stoves due to snowfall and heavy winds in the northwestern city of Bursa. Enditem