15,000 deaths blamed on French heatwave

An estimated 15,000 people died in France’s scorching heatwave last month, the country’s largest undertaker said today.

That figure surpassed the official government estimate of 11,435.

Isabelle Dubois-Costes, a spokeswoman from General Funeral Services, said the updated estimate included deaths in the second half of August, after record-breaking temperatures had abated.

The new estimate came after the government on Monday released a report blaming the deaths on hospital understaffing, bureaucratic delays and insufficient care for the elderly.

The government late last month released an official estimate of 11,435, but the Health Surveillance Institute said today that those numbers were based on deaths only in the first half of August.