Local police in the west German town said that 12 people had been injured in the string of accidents, although most only resulted in damage to the bodies of the cars.

In one particularly severe case on the Autobahn outside Osnabrück eight vehicles collided, including two lorries.

All buses were taken out of action in by local authorities due to the treacherousness of the conditions.

“Anyone who goes outside will know why we took this decision,” Katja Diehl, spokesperson for the Osnabrück city administration said.

The Autobahn 2 was also brought to a halt on Tuesday after several trucks collided with one another between Magdeburg and Brunswick. The A2 the main transport artery connecting Berlin with the densely populated Ruhr district of west Germany.

Tragedy also struck in Aiterhofen, Bavaria on Monday afternoon, where a woman died in a serious crash on black ice.

The woman had tried to overtake another vehicle on the slippery surface but lost control of her car and slammed head-on into a truck. The passenger in the car died at the scene. The driver was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Source: DWD

Although north and east Germany as set for more cold weather into Wednesday, with possible snowfall in Thuringia, the weather is supposed to ease by the weekend.

On Saturday north Germany will experience temperatures between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius, the German Weather Service says.