MADRID: Some 2700 people, many of them British tourists, yesterday

remained stranded for the third day by gale force winds and snow on the

holiday island of Madeira. All flights were cancelled to the Portuguese

Atlantic island because of the freak storms. Services were also held up

in the Canary Islands, where Tenerife had the heaviest snow in living

memory on high ground, and 18ft waves driven by 60mph winds battered the

islands. The bitter cold penetrated into the normally sunny south of

Spain, where three people were killed in storms and Valencia had its

heaviest snowfall for 15 years.