Two children, aged 2 and 4, were found dead Monday afternoon in their family’s car in a residential parking lot in Carpentras, in the south of France, in the middle of a heatwave, we learned from the prosecution.
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“The causes of death are to be determined, but the heatwave is preferred,” Carpentras prosecutor Hélène Mourges told AFP.
The mother of the children was taken care of by emergency services and has not yet been heard, the magistrate said.
Firefighters told AFP they discovered “two children in cardiovascular arrest after receiving a call around 1:20 p.m.”.
France is facing a wave of heatwave with 49 departments (half the country) on red heatwave alert, the maximum alert level, a record. The Météo-France institute predicts “the hottest day ever measured in France in all months combined”. In total, more than 90% of the population will be affected by this heat wave.
This heatwave, after a first in May, is of “exceptional intensity, similar to that of August 2003” which caused nearly 15,000 deaths in France, “but of still uncertain duration”, according to the meteorological institute.
On Sunday, three elderly people died at their home in Gironde (southwest) due to extreme heat, according to the prefecture. At least 13 people drowned over the weekend in France, according to Civil Security.
