Participants stand in the waters of the North Sea during the annual New Year's plunge event in Ostend, Belgium, January 6, 2018. (Reuters Photo)
Ostend: Thousands of people braved the biting cold of a Belgian winter on Saturday to take a dip in the North Sea in Ostend's traditional New Year's plunge.
Undeterred by air temperatures of 6 degrees Celsius (43 degrees Fahrenheit) and equally chilly water, 4,500 people, many clad in fancy dress, ran down the beach in front of the city's neoclassical Royal Galleries.