ROME, Nov 22, 2008 (AFP) - Two people died Saturday and there was widespread disruption across Italy and Greece caused by strong winds, reports and officials said. In northern Italy, a student died and 20 others were injured when a school roof collapsed in a suburb of the northern city of Turin, the ANSA news agency reported.
Elsewhere, a young woman died after gale force winds forced her off her motorbike on the island of Sardinia, while a woman was injured when a streetlight fell onto her car in southern Calabria region. An Alitalia flight scheduled to land at Brindisi was rerouted to Bari because of bad weather. Shipping lines were also disrupted. A boat travelling from Palermo to Genoa was forced to turn back more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) into its journey. Sicily's Aeolian Islands were also left totally isolated due to the weather conditions.
Meanwhile, boats remained in Greek ports Saturday after shipping authorities issued a ban on vessels putting out to sea. Southwesterly winds reached speeds of up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour in the Ionian and Aegean seas, officials said. A ferry carrying 120 passengers bound for the Cyclades Islands in the south of the Aegean sea had to abandon its journey and drop anchor at a small port on the Greek island of Santorini.
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