Latest news with #BrahimAitElHajjam
Sky News
17 hours ago
- Climate
- Sky News
'Silent killer' heatwave thought to have left at least 9 dead in Europe
At least nine people in Europe have died in savage heat this week as a "silent killer" heatwave continues to bake the continent. In Italy, scorching temperatures of up to 38C forced officials to issue the most severe red alerts across 17 major cities, including Milan and Rome, while several regions banned outdoor work in the afternoon. But the sweltering conditions - locked in by a 'heat dome' hovering over Europe - have already been implicated in the death of at least one labourer. Local reports say Brahim Ait El Hajjam, 47, keeled over in the midday sun while pouring concrete in a car park on the outskirts of Bologna, which was also under a red alert. Two men over 60 died on beaches in Sardinia, the ANSA news agency reported, and in Sicily's capital Palermo, a 53-year-old woman died on Monday after reportedly fainting while walking along a street. Local media said she had an existing heart condition. The results of post-mortem examinations have not been published, but heatwaves kill thousands of people a year in Europe, earning them the nickname the "silent killer". During the long, baking summer of 2022 in Europe, its hottest on record, 61,000 people died because of the heat, a study found. The head of Italy's society for emergency medicine (SIMEU), Doctor Alessandro Riccardi, said A&E admissions have spiked in the current heatwave. "We have observed a 10% increase in admissions compared to the national average, with some peaks (up to 20%) in Sardinia, which is among the regions most affected by the temperature at the moment," he told Sky News. "More than absolute numbers, the composition of patients has changed, with an increase in patients requiring hospitalisation, and on this, the temperature plays a predominant role". How does heat affect the body? Heat sends the body into overdrive as it has to work harder to pump blood and keep itself cool. The strain stresses the heart and kidneys and can lead to organ failure, heart attack and kidney failure - so heat stress often worsens existing cardiovascular and other problems. Dr Akshay Deoras from Reading University said: "Heatwaves are deadly." Prolonged heat exposure can "overwhelm the body's ability to regulate temperature, leading to dehydration, heat exhaustion, and potentially fatal heatstroke", he said. It should be treated "with the same seriousness we give to dangerous storms", he added. Power down and food burned Temperatures in Italy are expected to remain in the high 30s into Friday, with the mercury likely to hit 39C in Florence today. The heat was also blamed for power blackouts in central Florence and Bergamo, likely due to a surge in demand for energy driven by air conditioning. Farmers have complained of burned fruit and vegetables and a drop in milk production. In Spain, fierce temperatures have soared even higher, reaching 46C in Huelva on Saturday and 37.9C in Barcelona yesterday, where officials are also investigating whether the death of a street sweeper at the weekend was heat-related. Authorities also reported heatwave-linked deaths in Extremadura and Cordoba. France's energy minister reported two deaths with a direct link to the heatwave, and 300 more taken to hospital. Its capital could see 40C heat again today, and the top of the Eiffel Tower remains closed, as do hundreds of schools. Meanwhile, in Germany, firefighters tackled several forest fires in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony amid 40C (104F) temperatures in some areas. Early heatwave a worry What is worrying officials is that this heatwave began in June, whereas such high temperatures usually only come in July and August. Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF, says: "The current June-July heatwave is exposing millions of Europeans to high heat stress." She added: " Climate change is making heatwaves more frequent, more intense, and impacting larger geographical areas." 1:55 All this has come as the world has warmed by 1.3C on average since the pre-industrial era. It is on course to warm by about 3C by 2100. High temperatures happened before humans changed the climate, but global warming is making them more common and more intense, turning mild weather hot, and heatwaves more dangerous than they would have been.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Italy limits outdoor work as heatwave breaks records across Europe
Thirteen Italian regions have banned outdoor working during the hottest parts of the day; June temperature records have been smashed in Spain and Portugal; and schools in parts of France have been closed, as an extreme heatwave continues to grip large swathes of Europe. Tens of thousands of people have also been evacuated from their homes in Turkey due to wildfires; while the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed to tourists on Tuesday as temperatures in Paris were poised to hit 38C (100.4F). Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, two northern Italian industrial hubs, announced on Tuesday that they were stopping open-air work between 12.30pm and 4pm, joining 11 other Italian 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 construction site close to Bologna, the Emilia-Romagna capital, on Monday. The CGIL Bologna and Fillea CGIL unions said in a statement: 'While we wait to learn the actual cause of death, it is essential, during this terrible period, to promote a culture of safety. The climate emergency has clearly worsened the conditions for those who work outside every day and companies must give absolute priority to the protection of workers.' The measures vary from region to region but include a halt on outdoor activities on construction sites, quarries and farms during the stipulated hours. Attilio Fontana, the president of Lombardy, said: 'Our priority is to protect the health of workers, especially during times like these when the heat becomes particularly unbearable.' Vincenzo Colla, councillor for work in Emilia-Romagna, said: 'Protecting workers is our responsibility.' A 53-year-old woman died on Monday after fainting while walking along a street in Palermo, Sicily. She 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. French national rail operator SNCF said train travel between France and Italy had been suspended for 'at least several days' after violent storms on Monday, AFP reported. Cogne, a town in the Aosta Valley that suffered severe flooding in June last year, has been cut off by a landslide. Admissions to hospital emergency units in some Italian regions has risen by 15-20% in recent days, with the majority of patients being elderly people suffering from dehydration. The Spanish state meteorological agency, Aemet, said in a social media update that 'June 2025 smashed records' when it comes to high temperature, with an average temperature of 23.6C, 0.8C above the previous hottest June in 2017. The monthly average was also 3.5C higher than the average over the period from 1991 to 2020, it said. The agency's comments come just days after Spain's highest ever June temperature of 46C was recorded in the Huelva province of Andalucía. In Portugal, temperatures hit 46.6C in Mora, a town in the Évora district, in recent days, making it the highest June temperature ever recorded in the country, according to the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere. In France, the prime minister, François Bayrou, tried to calm anger at the heatwave crisis in French schools. More than 1,896 schools across the country were fully or partially closed on Tuesday as classrooms proved dangerously hot for children and teachers, amid anger from teaching unions. In Paris, which was on maximum heatwave alert, parents were advised to keep their children home on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some other towns including Troyes and Melun closed all their schools. Bayrou said the education ministry would open talks with mayors on how to adapt school buildings, most of which are extremely poorly insulated. As temperatures rose on Tuesday, some Paris teachers had nothing more than a water spray on their desk to repeatedly spritz children in classrooms in the hope of keeping cool. Bayrou, who is separately facing a vote of no confidence on Tuesday, which he is expected to survive, has cancelled his meetings to monitor the situation in real time. Other cities across Europe continent are also experiencing higher than usual temperatures, including Zaragoza (39C), Rome (37C), Madrid (37C), Athens (37C), Brussels (36C), Frankfurt am Main (36C), Tirana (35C) and London (33C). Turkey's forestry minister, İbrahim Yumaklı, said firefighters had been called out to 263 wildfires across the country in recent days. Firefighters have also been tackling wildfires in parts of France and Italy, especially on the islands of Sardinia and Sicily.
