- Two young children, aged two and four, were tragically discovered dead in cardiac arrest inside their mother's car in a residential parking lot in Carpentras, France, amidst a severe heatwave.
- Despite immediate resuscitation efforts by firefighters, both children succumbed, with prosecutors indicating that the extreme heatwave, which saw temperatures reach 39°C in Vaucluse, is the primary suspected cause of death.
- Authorities believe the children may have entered the vehicle without their 33-year-old mother's knowledge before becoming trapped; she has since been taken into care by emergency services and has not yet been questioned.
- This tragic incident unfolds as France experiences an intense heatwave, with 49 regional administrative areas under a red heatwave warning, leading to the planned closure of nearly 2,700 schools and three reported elderly deaths this week.
- The heatwave is part of a wider European crisis, with the World Health Organisation reporting over 200,000 heat-related deaths across Europe in the last four years, and similar red warnings issued in Spain and the UK.
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