Three-year-old dies in hot car during France heatwave

PONTOISE - A three-year-old died in France after getting trapped in a hot car, a prosecutor said Thursday, one in a spate of deaths and medical emergencies sparked by Europe's heatwave.

France on Wednesday recorded the hottest day since measurements began in 1947, with the average temperature reaching 30C.

Thermometers in the capital hit as high as 40.3C.

The boy died on Wednesday evening when his parents and firefighters failed to resuscitate him in the town of Saint-Gratien, public prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said.

The mother was having a nap with the couple's second child, an 18-month-old, while the father was working in a shed in the garden, he said, citing initial findings.

The father told his son to have a nap, but the child escaped his parents' supervision for at least 45 minutes and climbed into the car, where the child lock was activated.

"He then apparently shut himself in and became trapped in the vehicle before being found unconscious by his parents," Le Bras said.

The boy's mother was taken to hospital in a state of shock.

On Monday the bodies of two children, aged two and four, were found in their family's car in a residential parking lot in the southern town of Carpentras.

Forecasters have warned that the heatwave that started last week could rival the 2003 episode of extremely hot weather that claimed nearly 15,000 lives nationwide.

It is unclear how many people in all have died in France since last week due to the heat.

Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire earlier on Thursday said deaths were on the rise in the capital, but did not give a specific figure.

- Heart attacks -

Around 63 million people in France were set to swelter in temperatures of more than 30C on Thursday, according to AFP calculations.

The country experienced its hottest-ever night on record Wednesday to Thursday.

Nationwide, health authorities have noted a four-fold increase in emergency room visits for "heat-related reasons".

Twenty-five cases of cardiac arrest were recorded in Paris over a 24-hour period on Wednesday, compared with "usually fewer than 10", according to the health ministry.

Young people were among those affected, it said, without specifying whether all the cases proved fatal.

The heat has left millions in France struggling to keep their homes cool. The government says one in three is not adapted to extreme heat.

The heat forced thousands of primary schools across France to close or shorten their teaching hours.

French teaching unions on Thursday called for a strike to protest "unacceptable working conditions" in the heatwave.

"The health of staff and pupils, as well as their working conditions, are being put at risk," the unions said in a joint statement, denouncing a "blatant lack of preparation". - AFP