Paris, June 28, 2026 – The Europe Today: A severe heatwave sweeping across several European countries has claimed the lives of 74 people by drowning in France since June 18, while Germany recorded its highest temperature on record for the second consecutive day, with the mercury reaching 41.5 degrees Celsius.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in an interview published on Saturday that most of the drowning fatalities occurred in unauthorised and unmonitored bodies of water, including rivers, lakes and ponds, as well as in private swimming pools.
Nuñez said many of the incidents were linked to thermal shock and, in some cases, excessive physical activity. He added that authorities had also recorded a significant number of deaths caused by cardiac arrest during the ongoing heatwave.
Meanwhile, the German Weather Service reported, based on preliminary data, that a new national temperature record had been set after temperatures reached 41.5 degrees Celsius in Möckern-Drewitz, located in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The new record surpassed the previous high of 41.3 degrees Celsius, recorded on Friday in Burbach. That mark was exceeded again on Saturday when the same weather station registered 41.4 degrees Celsius, before Möckern-Drewitz recorded the highest temperature ever measured in Germany.
The prolonged heatwave has affected large parts of Europe, prompting health warnings and raising concerns over the growing impact of extreme weather across the region.
