Spain heatwave death toll rises to 9

MADRID, Spain – Spain’s death toll from a particularly virulent heatwave rose to 9 in just one week, authorities said Tuesday, August 7, as the country suffers sky-high temperatures.

A 66-year-old man who died on Thursday in the southwestern region of Extremadura near Portugal was found to have died of heat stroke, a spokesman for the regional health department told AFP.

A 75-year-old woman who died two days later also succumbed to heat stroke, he added.

This brings to 9 the number of people to have died as a direct consequence of the heatwave.

A 40-year-old German man who was on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage also died from heat stroke in Extremadura, as did an 81-year-old man.

Parts of the region registered temperatures of up to 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) at the weekend.

Over in the northeast in Catalonia, 3 homeless men have died.

Two other men – a roadworker in his 40s and a 78-year-old pensioner tending to his vegetable garden – also passed away from heatstroke last week. – Rappler.com