TOKYO - Tokyo’s ambulance service has experienced its busiest day in more than 80 years, officials said Thursday, amid icy conditions as the Japanese capital shivers through its coldest temperatures in decades. The Tokyo fire department, which runs the ambulance service, said it had responded to 2,826 calls on Wednesday following rare and heavy snow that sparked chaos in one of the world’s most populous cities. “Generally, we receive more calls in winter. But we think the combination of influenza, heavy snow and cold weather contributed to the record high number,” a fire department spokesman told AFP. The number of emergency call-outs was the highest since the service began in 1936 and well above the average of around 2,000. The annual number of emergency calls has been on the rise for the past eight years in Tokyo, the spokesman added.

As a cold snap grips Japan, the mercury in Tokyo dropped to minus four degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit), the coldest in 48 years, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency.