Fox frozen in block of ice after drowning in river as temperatures plunge across Europe

Extreme winter weather continues to grip continent

An extraordinary image has been captured showing a drowned fox encased in a block of ice after it fell into a frozen river, as bitterly cold temperatures sweep across Europe.

The nimal broke through thin ice on the River Danube near Fridingen on 9 January and was discovered four days later.

A member of the public used a saw to cut a cube around the wild animal.

Extreme winter weather has gripped southern Germany’s Baden-Württemberg state, where photographer Johannes Stehle captured the image, for more than a week.

Blizzards and dangerously low temperatures have paralysed much of the continent, with more than 60 people killed across Europe by the wintry weather.

Elsewhere on the Danube, Romanian authorities had to stop shipping along a 565 mile stretch because of the ice.

Earlier this week in the US state of Connecticut, a deer had to be rescued from a frozen river.

Coyotes chased the deer onto the thin ice before it fell through a hole, the state’s department of energy and environmental protection said.

The deer pulled itself out of the water at one point but then became stuck with its legs split.

A member of an animal rights group then crawled onto the ice, grabbed hold of the deer's head and was pulled back to the riverbank with the animal.