40 drowning deaths reported in France as Europe swelters in heat wave
World
40 drowning deaths reported in France as Europe swelters in heat wave
Updated on: June 23, 2026 / 11:17 AM EDT / CBS/AP
Add CBS News on GoogleThere were 40 deaths from drowning recorded in France over the last week, as people turned to swimming in hopes of finding relief from a scorching heat wave. Millions across Europe faced extreme temperatures on Tuesday, and sweltering conditions continued to hit France particularly hard.
The 40 people who died by drowning since last Thursday were mainly young people, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said.
"It's not something to be taken lightly, going swimming in unsupervised areas during a heat wave," said French Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari, CBS partner BBC News reported, citing an interview with French radio.
Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in many towns.
In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, public transportation and sporting events have been impacted. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower adjusted its operations for the scorching weather, closing in the afternoon instead of late at night as it usually does.
"Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year," Meteo France, the national weather service, said.
Temperatures on Tuesday will remain high around the clock in France. Meteo France placed 54 departments, about half the country, under a red heat wave alert.
France experienced its hottest day on record for the month of June on Monday, as well as its hottest night ever on Monday night, reported BBC News.
Meanwhile, several other European countries were also contending with searing heat, including Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. In Spain, temperatures were expected to peak at 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or higher, and red alerts were issued across large sections of the country, according to BBC News.
Human-caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather, and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records.
The heat wave is exceptionally intense, coming very early in the summer, "but with a still uncertain duration," the weather service said. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in over half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Over the last four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization's Europe office said this month.
The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.
Across the English Channel from France, many British schools said they were closing for the day and trains were disrupted as the Met Office, the U.K. weather agency, issued a red extreme heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts suggesting June's all-time daily temperature record could be broken.
Temperatures of around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit are expected in southern England, with up to 95 degrees in southeast Wales. The peak of the heat wave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach at least 102.2 degrees. Conditions are expected to ease by Friday, the Met Office said.
On Tuesday, multiple train operators across the U.K. said they were canceling train services to "ensure the safe operation of the railway." National Rail, which operates the railway infrastructure, urged people to "only travel if absolutely necessary" on Wednesday and Thursday.
Further south on the continent, Spain is facing a heat wave across various parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
Spain's national weather service, Aemet, issued red alerts Tuesday for temperatures of 111 degrees Fahrenheit in southern Andalusia as well as warnings of thermometers hitting 104 degrees in the normally temperate Cantabria and the Basque Country regions along its northern Atlantic coast.
Aemet meteorologist Rubén del Campo said Spain, which has experienced increasingly torrid summers of late, is only going to get hotter because of climate change as heat waves become more frequent, longer and appear outside the traditional window of July and August.
Of the dozen heat waves Aemet has recorded in the month of June since it started tracking them in 1975, half have occurred since 2015, del Campo said.
Human-driven climate change is heating up the atmosphere, both above Spain and in the surrounding sea waters, he said.
Copernicus, the EU monitoring agency, found that in Europe and globally, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the continent experienced its second-highest number of "heat stress" days.
Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
