This summer, heat claimed a record 50,000 lives in Europe, with scientists blaming climate change for two out of every three deaths. This is according to a new study, reports UNN , citing The Guardian.
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Researchers found that morgues and funeral homes were filled with bodies from June to August, as heat caused by air pollution claimed 32,000 lives in urban areas. Hot days forced vulnerable bodies to work beyond their limits, while warm nights prevented them from recovering, the publication notes.
The study found that the "staggering" number of deaths, modeled using historical relationships between heat and health in 854 cities, was the worst on record. The hot weather, characterized by relentless heatwaves, claimed nearly twice as many lives as each of the next two most dangerous years.
"In a sense, the absolute number of heat-related deaths estimated across the 854 urban areas is truly staggering," said Malcolm Mistry, a climate and health scientist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a co-author of the study. "But perhaps even more concerning is the share of these deaths that we attribute to human-caused climate change."
The study found that the share of deaths attributable to climate change rose from approximately 40% at the beginning of the century to 65% this summer.
People died from the heat most frequently in Malta, Italy and Hungary, while the absolute number of deaths was highest in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. Since death certificates rarely record contributing factors—such as dangerous temperatures that push a stroke victim or a lung cancer patient beyond their physical limits—families rarely know that heat and human activity hastened the deaths of their relatives, the publication notes.