Overview
- Firefighters found two brothers, aged 2 and 4, in cardiopulmonary arrest inside a family car in Carpentras after a 13:20 emergency call, and authorities later confirmed the children were dead.
- Prosecutor Hélène Mourges said the causes of death remain to be determined but that the ongoing heatwave is the main working hypothesis, and investigators and medical examiners have opened forensic inquiries.
- Météo France placed roughly half the country on its highest, red alert level with local temperatures near 39°C and national forecasts between 36°C and 43°C, marking an exceptional early-summer episode.
- The heatwave has already been linked to other recent fatalities and drownings, prompted more than 1,300 school closures or schedule changes, and led regional rail operators to cancel services to reduce risks to vulnerable passengers.
- Scientists and officials note this is the second intense heatwave in weeks, that climate change has raised peak temperatures by an estimated 2–4°C in parts of western Europe, and warn that such repeated extremes increase danger for children, the elderly and public infrastructure.