At least 40 people have drowned in France while swimming in unsupervised areas to seek relief from a heatwave gripping the country and other parts of Europe, Al Jazeera reports.
Speaking after a crisis meeting on Tuesday as France recorded its hottest-ever day, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the death toll since Thursday was mainly young people.
“They are the first victims of the crisis we are facing,” he said, calling the fatalities a “tragic scourge” on a day when temperatures in some parts of the country climbed above about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
According to the Meteo France forecaster, in Les Herbiers in the southwest of the country, temperatures reached 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.
Sports Minister Marina Ferrari told France Inter radio that “to go swimming in unauthorised areas during a heatwave is not something to take lightly”.
Local authorities said the heatwave was the most likely reason for the deaths of two children aged two and four who were found unconscious in a car outside their home in Carpentras in southeastern France.
Three more people aged 80 to 95 died in the Bordeaux region from heat-related health issues, local official Sophie Brocas told France TV.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), warned that the next few days posed “serious health risks” for Europe.
“For thousands of people across Europe, extreme temperatures, without action, can quickly become a matter of life and death,” Mary Friel, the IFRC’s senior climate policy officer, told a press conference in Geneva.
“IFRC is urging people to take this heatwave seriously and to look out for those most at risk to save lives.”
