Accidents follow snow and ice in south

Snow and ice have been causing traffic problems across western and southern Sweden on Wednesday morning, with trams in Gothenburg facing delays and cancellations.

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The snow caused a tram to leave the tracks at Älvsborgsplan during the morning, although it stayed upright and nobody was injured. Shortly afterwards a tram coming from the other direction crashed into the derailed carriage.

"There was only superficial damage," said Mikael Lagerqvist, traffic controller at tram operator Göteborgs Spårvägar.

"We've got problems all over town."

Elsewhere, on the E6 north of Falkenberg a truck came off the road, according to emergency operator SOS Alarm. Nobody was injured.

Around 15 accidents were reported in Skåne up to 11am. Five people were reported injured. Two of the accidents happened on Malmö's outer ring road. In one accident, a motorcyclist slid on the road and was run into by a car. Another crash involved two cars.

On the E22 north of Lund icy conditions caused a car to run into a ditch. In another accident on the E6 near Vellinge and another in Rydebäck, near Helsingborg.

Conditions could deteriorate through the afternoon.

"There will be more snow this afternoon," said Eva Hast at the Swedish National Roads Administration.

Swedish meteorological service SMHI has issued a class two weather warning for Skåne - the second highest warning level. Snowis expected to start falling more heavily during Wednesday afternoon, continuing into Thursday. Up to 20 centimetres is expected across Skåne, with even heavier snow in some places. The worst snowdrifts are expected in the Österlen area.

Buses in the Skåne region have been affected by the snow, with many buses badly delayed.