While western Europe is experiencing unseasonably cold weather and heavy snow, dubbed the 'Beast from the East' and blamed on a storm front from Russia, Russians themselves are also dealing with heavy snow. In Sakhalin, passengers had to push their bus out of a snow drift caused by local blizzards, while in Yakutsk, all schools remain open despite temperatures of -27C. In Norilsk, workers building a mine ventilation shaft got stuck in a bus due to snowdrifts, and it took a 20-hour rescue operation to free them. Schools in Norilsk are mainly continuing, although some plants have given their staff days off.