Three-year-old found dead in car during France heatwave

PONTOISE, France - A three-year-old was found dead in a car in the Paris region, a police source said on June 25, the third such child fatality amid the extreme weather sweeping across Europe this week.

The boy’s parents found him in “the car outside their home”, the source said. Civil defence confirmed his death in the town of St Gratien in the Paris suburbs.

France on June 24 recorded its hottest day since measurements began in 1947, with the national average temperature reaching 30 deg C.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire earlier on June 25 reported that deaths were on the rise in the capital, but did not give a specific figure.

Temperatures in the capital reached 40.3 deg C on June 24, topping 40 deg C for the fourth time in 150 years.

Two children were found dead in a car in southern France on June 22.

The two victims, aged two and four, were found dead in their family’s car in a residential parking lot in the town of Carpentras. AFP