Two children, aged two and four, were found dead in a family car in Carpentras, France, on Monday as a severe heatwave pushed temperatures above 40°C across Europe. The children were discovered unresponsive in the vehicle, which was parked in a garage in the Bois de l'Ubac neighbourhood.
Incident Details
According to the Mirror, the children entered the car without their 33-year-old mother's knowledge and became trapped. Emergency services were alerted at 1:10 pm local time and attempted resuscitation, but both children died at the scene. The prosecutor of Carpentras, Hélène Mourges, told local media: "The cause of death is still under investigation, but the heatwave is the leading theory."
Heatwave Conditions
France is enduring a week of record-breaking temperatures, with daytime highs exceeding 40°C. Meteo France, the national weather service, stated that most of the country is entering a "plateau" of unrelenting heatwave conditions not expected to ease before Friday. Multiple towns, including Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast, experienced their hottest night ever on Sunday to Monday, with an overnight low of 23.2°C. Paris recorded its hottest June night, with temperatures not dropping below 24.2°C, half a degree hotter than the previous record from 2017.
UK Weather Warning
In the UK, the Met Office has issued a rare "red" weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday, forecasting temperatures could exceed 37°C in the shade and rise to 40°C in parts of England and Wales. The Met Office warned that extreme temperatures could cause heat-sensitive equipment to fail, including power and mobile phone services. Dr Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "We are forecasting extreme temperatures in the next few days, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday, when it looks like we’ll be seeing maximum temperatures into the high 30s. But also we are stressing very high overnight temperatures which will be very uncomfortable for vulnerable groups, and very humid conditions as well."
