A British woman died at a French campsite and a three-year-old was found dead in a hot car in Paris yesterday as the death toll from a blistering European heatwave continued to climb.
France is once again facing searing conditions today having endured its hottest ever 24-hour period on Wednesday. On Tuesday, temperatures climbed past 44C in Pissos in the country’s south-west.
At least 48 people have drowned across the country since the heatwave began with extreme heat closing nuclear reactors and triggering forest fires.
In the west coast town of Tranche-sur-Mer, an elderly British woman collapsed and died at the Baie D-Aunis campsite on Wednesday.
On the same day, a three-year-old boy was found dead in a car in a Paris suburb, as mercury rose to 41C in the French capital.
The three-year-old’s parents found the boy unresponsive in the car outside their home, 45 minutes after sending the child to bed when he told them he was feeling tired.
The boy is believed to have locked himself in the vehicle, but the circumstances around how he ended up in the car in the first place are unclear.
Meanwhile, the freak Saharan heat dome is causing chaos across the rest of Europe including in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and in Spain where 212 have died in three days.
A person cools off at Trocadero fountain near the Eiffel Tower during a heat wave in Paris, Wednesday
Europe continues to grapple with a sweltering heatwave. Pictured: Lifeguards keep watch from their station over a packed lake beach during a heatwave at the Bordeaux Lac beach, in Bordeaux, south-western France
A British woman died at a French campsite as the country is gripped by soaring temperatures. Pictured: Baie D-aunis campsite, where the tragedy occurred
The incident also brings the death toll of children dying in extreme weather conditions in France to three, after two siblings died after being left in a hot car earlier this week.
The brothers, aged just four and two, were found unresponsive by their mother, 33, on Monday afternoon in the town of Carpentras, southern France, in a car parked outside their grandmother’s house.
They suffered cardiac arrest as temperatures reached a sweltering 40C, and while services were called to the scene, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
The heatwave is being driven by a weather pattern known as an Omega block, pushing temperatures as much as 18C above normal.
The phenomenon resembles the shape of the Greek letter Omega, with a bulbous middle trapping in heat over regions for extended periods, with cooler weather on its fringes.
Weather agencies have warned that extreme heat could endanger lives as much of western Europe bakes under a ‘heat dome’.
France on Wednesday recorded the hottest day since measurements began in 1947, the national average temperature reaching 30C.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire earlier on Thursday reported that deaths were on the rise in the capital.
The Ministry of Health later confirmed that there had been 25 heat-related cardiac arrests in the last 24 hours in Paris.
The extreme heat has also led three nuclear reactors to close in France as high temperatures across the country reduced access to water needed to cool the plants.
The Golfech reactor has been closed since Monday, while the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power plant in Aube shut this morning due to ‘external causes related to the environment’.
A third was closed in the late morning in Bugey.
Forest fires also broke out in Spain and France.
Nearly 200 firefighters were deployed to put out flames spreading through the Landes de Gascogne pine forest in southwestern France.
In Spain’s Catalonia region, an inferno tore through 16 hectares of forest in Sant Quirze de Safaja.
People sit under umbrellas in a tourist boat during a heatwave on June 24, in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stable workers bathe their horses in the Berounka River to cool them off during a heatwave in Prague, Czech Republic, June 24
Tourists and Parisians Cool Off at Eiffel Tower 42C expected towards temperature records in Paris, France on June 24, 2026
Two men work on a canal quay as their apartment overheats during a heatwave on June 24, 2026 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
At least 101 million people are expected to experience hot temperatures on Thursday, including 50 million in France.
The country has been the most impacted, where around 63 million people have experienced temperatures of more than 30C.
The heatwave has also been linked with 212 deaths in Spain between Sunday and Wednesday, estimates from a public institute show.
The MoMO monitoring system compiles daily death statistics in Spain and calculates the difference in mortality by comparing them with the levels forecast based on historical records.
Meanwhile, the UK recorded its hottest June day on Wednesday, with 36.1 reported at Gosport in southern England.
The national weather forecaster issued a red alert for heat in much of central and southern England, as well as Wales.
The bodies of three young men were recovered from the Marchfeld Canal near Gerasdorf in Austria on Thursday, after they were initially reported missing.
The men, between 25 and their early 30s, are believed to have had an accident during a stand-up paddleboarding trip and drowned, according to Kronen Zeitung.
Authorities warned people to take extra care when swimming in unsupervised areas, such as rivers or lakes, following the deaths of at least 48 people in France over the past week.
French footballer Kenzo Kies has died from drowning in the Rhone River after he had gone for a swim to cool down from the blistering heat.
Three bodies were discovered in the Marchfeld Canal near Gerasdorf (Korneuburg district) on June 25
A visitor cools off at a fan with a water misting system at the Red Bull Ring race track in Spielberg, Austria on June 25, ahead of the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix, where temeratures are to go over 30 degrees Celsius
The windows of a Haussmann-style residential building are seen covered with emergency blankets to shield them from the sun as temperatures rise in Paris, during a heatwave affecting a majority of the country, France, June 25, 2026
German tourists jump in a canal during a heatwave in Amsterdam, Netherlands
People touch canal water to feel its temperature during a heatwave in Amsterdam, Netherlands
French footballer Kenzo Kies has died from drowning in the Rhone River
Kies, 21, who played for Guingamp in Ligue 2, was in a critical condition when he was pulled from the water on Monday, and later died in hospital.
Kies and three friends entered the river near Lyon. Three people were pulled to safety by emergency services, but Kies was the last to be found.
More than 1,000 schools in England have closed due to the heat, and many train services were cancelled, with passengers being urged to avoid nonessential travel in areas covered by the warning.
In France, Italy and Spain, more than 100 million people were warned to be extra vigilant about the dangers of the heat wave.
With the mercury rising, many of France’s major attractions, including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum in Paris, have restricted visiting hours.
Schools and transportation schedules were also upended.
In Italy, 16 cities, including Rome, Milan, Florence and Turin, were under heat alerts.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow.
