Forty people have drowned in France since last Thursday as a record-breaking heatwave grips much of Europe, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced. Temperatures have hit record levels in several major cities, and the heat is still building across France, Spain, and Italy.
France saw its hottest June day on record on Monday. That same night became the country's hottest ever night, with a minimum average temperature of 21.6 degrees Celsius, according to Météo France. Well over half the country was placed on red alert.
French Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari addressed the danger directly. "It's not something to be taken lightly, going swimming in unsupervised areas during a heatwave," she told French radio. She said too many people were trying to cool off in rivers and canals without considering the risks.
Among the dead was a 13-year-old girl who went for a swim with her family in the River Seine at Fontaine-La Port on Sunday evening. She did not know how to swim, according to BBC News. Two other deaths on Monday were attributed to extreme heat after children aged two and four were found in a family car in a parking lot in the southern city of Carpentras. A young professional footballer was also left in critical condition in hospital after being pulled from the River Rhône near Lyon. Emergency services had been called to rescue four young men who got into difficulty in a section of the river where swimming is banned.
Spain and Italy have also been hard hit. Spanish state weather service Aemet said temperatures could top 44 degrees Celsius in rural areas near the southern city of Córdoba on Tuesday, and could exceed 42 degrees in the Ebro valley in the northeast. Red alerts were declared in Andalusia in the south, and in Cantabria and the Basque Country in the north. Aemet noted that June heatwaves in mainland Spain are becoming more frequent, with 10 recorded between 2000 and 2025 compared to just two in the previous 25 years. Spain is considered more exposed to the effects of climate change than almost any other European country.
In Italy, red heatwave alerts were declared in 15 cities, including Rome, Milan, Florence, Turin, and Venice. The alert level signals conditions that can pose health risks even to healthy adults, not just the elderly or those with existing illnesses.
Germany was also affected. The German Lifesaving Association reported six fatal swimming incidents between Friday and Sunday, with men in particular overestimating their abilities in the water. Three bodies were found in the Rhine near the southwestern town of Biblis, days after three men aged 23, 27, and 50 were reported missing in two different stretches of the river. Temperatures in western and southwestern Germany are expected to reach as high as 40 degrees Celsius by the end of the week.
