Two children aged 2 and 4 were found dead this afternoon in their family car in a parking lot in a residential area in Carpentras, southern France, during the heatwave that has gripped the country, the prosecutor's office said, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
“The causes of their death are still to be established, but the heat is a leading theory”, Carpentras prosecutor Hélène Mourges told AFP.
The children's mother is in the care of emergency services and has not yet been questioned, prosecutors said.
Firefighters told AFP that they found “the two children in cardiac arrest after receiving a call at around 1:20 p.m. (14:20 Bulgarian time)”.
France is gripped by a heatwave, with 49 departments (half of the country) under a red code for high temperatures. Tomorrow will be even hotter, with a red code in 54 departments and an orange code in another 35, "Meteor France" reported.
Three elderly people died yesterday in their homes in Gironde, southeastern France, as a result of the extremely hot weather, local authorities said.
At least 13 people drowned over the weekend while seeking coolness from the heat, the Civil Protection said.