Extreme heat kills 74 people in France, Germany records unprecedented temperature

PARIS/BERLIN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Jun, 2026) A severe heatwave affecting several European countries has caused the deaths of 74 people by drowning in France since 18th June, coinciding with Germany recording a new temperature record for the second consecutive day, reaching 41.5 degrees Celsius.

Laurent Nuñez, French Interior Minister, said in an interview with Le Parisien published today, Saturday, that most drowning deaths occurred in unauthorised and unmonitored bodies of water, particularly rivers, lakes and ponds, as well as in private swimming pools.

The French minister explained that these incidents were linked to thermal shock and, at times, excessive physical activity, noting that a large number of deaths caused by cardiac arrest had also been recorded.

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Meanwhile, the German Weather Service, based on preliminary data, recorded a new temperature record after temperatures peaked at 41.5 degrees Celsius in the town of Möckern-Drewitz in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The new record surpassed the 41.3 degrees Celsius recorded on Friday in Burbach, in Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland. That figure was broken again today at the same weather station, which recorded 41.4 degrees Celsius, before Möckern-Drewitz later registered the highest temperature ever recorded in Germany.