Paris records 55 deaths in one day as heat wave grips France

PARIS, France — PARIS — France's National Medical Emergency Service recorded 55 deaths in Paris on Thursday, far above the city's typical daily toll of around 10, according to BFMTV. Of those, 25 were attributed to cardiac arrest and 30 to other causes. The channel noted that not every case in the records was directly caused by the hot weather, but the sharp rise in mortality reflects the impact of the extreme conditions. The figures cover only calls handled by the SAMU ambulance service and exclude data from firefighters, private doctors and SOS Médecins. Jean-François Cibien, vice president of the SAMU-Urgences de France union, said the first hospitalized patient in the country to die from high room temperatures had been recorded, warning that a lack of air conditioning is creating serious problems in health facilities. Paris police prefect Patrice Faure said emergency calls had doubled during the heat wave, with crews responding to more than 2,000 incidents on Thursday.