<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/26/europe-heatwave-shift-east-child-deaths-france-cities-heat-stress>
"The number of deaths in France linked to the heatwave has climbed to four
toddlers and more than 55 drownings, as the brutally hot conditions sweeping
Europe were forecast to shift east, choking 150 million people under 35C (95F)
temperatures.
Scientists said the heatwave was the most severe and widespread ever, leaving
nearly half of the region’s 850 largest cities grappling with unprecedented
heat stress. They said the extreme temperatures had been made possible by the
climate crisis driven by fossil fuel burning.
On Friday, a hospital in Marseille said an 18-month-old child had died in
emergency care earlier in the week after he was found in a car in a state of
hyperthermia. A police source told the newspaper Le Figaro it was believed that
the father, who works in the area, may have forgotten his son in the car when
he was supposed to drop him off at daycare.
Earlier this week, a three-year-old boy in a Paris suburb was found dead after
climbing into a car and becoming trapped when the child lock was activated.
Separately, the bodies of two children aged two and four were found in their
family’s car in a residential car park.
France’s sports minister, Marina Ferrari, said on Friday that at least 55
people across the country had drowned, up from the 40 reported earlier in the
week. “By yesterday night we were at 55, but we fear that the situation may
worsen,” she told the broadcaster Franceinfo.
In the UK, the Met Office said the record for the hottest June day had been
broken for the third day running. Provisional figures showed a temperature of
37.3C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Friday, beating the previous record of
36.7C set on Thursday. “And temperatures are still rising,” the forecaster
added."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
