Outdoor working has been banned during the hottest parts of the day in more than half of Italy’s regions as an extreme heatwave that has smashed June temperature records in Spain and Portugal continues to grip large swathes of Europe.
The savage temperatures are believed to have claimed at least three lives, including that of a small boy who is thought to have died from heatstroke while in a car in Catalonia’s Tarragona province on Tuesday afternoon.
In Palermo, Sicily, a 53-year-old woman died on Monday after fainting while walking along a street. She had reportedly suffered from a heart condition.
A 70-year-old man was reported to have drowned at a tourist resort close to Turin as intense heat gave way to storms and flash floods.
Admissions to hospital emergency units in parts of Italy have risen by 15-20% in recent days. The majority of patients are elderly people suffering from dehydration.
The heatwave, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from their homes in Turkey due to wildfires, has also forced the closure of schools in parts of France – as education unions warned the classrooms were dangerously hot for children and teachers.
Tourists, meanwhile, were confronted with closures of some of Europe’s popular attractions. The top of the Eiffel Tower was shut as temperatures in Paris were poised to hit 38C (100.4F). In Brussels, the Atomium monument, famed for its giant stainless steel balls, closed early as temperatures inched towards 37C.
In Italy, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, two industrial hubs, announced they were stopping open-air work between 12.30pm and 4pm, joining 11 other regions – stretching from Liguria in the north-west to Calabria and Sicily in the south – that have imposed similar bans in recent days.
Local authorities were heeding advice from trade unions after the death of Brahim Ait El Hajjam, a 47-year-old construction worker, who collapsed and died while working on a building site close to Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna, on Monday.
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