Around 20 people have drowned in France since the weekend while swimming in unsupervised waters to escape a heatwave, French authorities said on Tuesday, as temperatures across the country approached 40 degrees Celsius. The deaths come as a severe heat spell grips large parts of Europe, prompting school closures, transport disruptions, and emergency government meetings in Paris.
French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari confirmed the death toll on France Inter radio. “There have been around 20 deaths since the weekend,” she said. Ferrari linked the fatalities to swimmers entering rivers, lakes, and other unguarded bodies of water without supervision. “To go swimming in unauthorized areas, during a heatwave, is not something to take lightly,” she added.
A spokesperson for France’s Civil Safety service had earlier put the toll at 13 drownings between Sunday and early Monday, before the figure rose to around 20 by Tuesday. French Civil Safety spokesperson Jérôme Boulanger told broadcaster RMC that people should only swim in areas designated as safe.
Among the dead were two children, aged two and four, found unconscious in a car outside their home in Carpentras, in southeastern France. Local officials said the heatwave was the most likely cause of their deaths. French media also reported that four children drowned on Saturday during the same heat spell.
Three more deaths were recorded in the Bordeaux region, where officials attributed the fatalities to heat-related health complications among elderly residents. Local official Sophie Brocas told France TV that the victims were aged between 80 and 95.
Weather agency Météo France forecast temperatures of roughly 40 degrees Celsius across much of the country on Tuesday, with Bordeaux expected to exceed 42 degrees Celsius on Monday. Météo France placed 49 administrative regions under a red heatwave warning, the country’s highest alert level.
French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist warned the heat spell would persist for several more days. “We’re heading for, at the very least, several days of very, very hot weather. We don’t know when temperatures will start falling,” she said on television channel TF1.
Regional and European impact
The heat spell extended well beyond France. Britain’s Met Office said a four-day heatwave could push temperatures above 39 degrees Celsius in parts of the country, which would break the June record of 35.6 degrees Celsius set in 1957 and 1976. Data scientist Lewis Jennings, speaking to Reuters in London, said the expected heat would feel unusually intense for the region. “Thirty-six degrees is going to be disgusting,” he said.
Spain’s weather agency Aemet issued a red alert for the Basque region in the country’s traditionally cooler north, where San Sebastián was forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius, more than double its historic average for June 22, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor. Meteorologist Rubén del Campo said anomalies were sharpest in northern Spain. “We are seeing temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees above normal for this time of year, and in some northern areas even more than 10 degrees above average,” he said.
In Germany, a 23-year-old man drowned in a lake near Rheinstetten in Baden-Württemberg on Saturday, the German news agency dpa reported. A police spokesperson told dpa that three other people remained missing after swimming in the Rhine River.
Background
Air conditioning remains uncommon in many French households, increasing public reliance on rivers and lakes for relief during extreme heat. About a third of France was placed under a red heat alert as the second heatwave of the season intensified. The country’s national rail authority canceled multiple train services and deployed extra staff to manage disruptions. France’s annual Music Day celebrations on Sunday, which draw large outdoor crowds nationwide, raised additional safety concerns, prompting some event cancellations and a nationwide ban on public alcohol consumption in red-alert zones. The World Meteorological Organization reported in April that Europe is warming at more than double the global average rate. The World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month that more than 200,000 people across the continent died from heat-related causes over the past four years.
What happens next
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a government heat crisis meeting and ordered ministers to draft long-term plans for adapting France to recurring heatwaves, including expanded air conditioning use where necessary. Météo France’s red alerts remain in effect across the 49 designated regions, with no confirmed date for when temperatures will decline. Authorities in France, Britain, and Spain continue to issue public warnings against swimming in unsupervised waters as the heat spell continues through the week.
