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A second elderly person has died from heatstroke in Cyprus as a weeklong heatwave brings record temperatures to the region.
An 84-year-old woman died a day after being admitted to hospital on Friday, State Health Services Organisation spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said.
He added that three elderly patients were also left in serious condition as temperatures soar past 40C (104F).
Fires continue to rage through parts of the island, with firefighting teams hampered by the heat and strong winds.
Southern Europe has been buffeted by record temperatures in recent days, threatening to spark more fires and bringing risk of heat-related illness and death.
Meanwhile, Britain continues to experience unseasonably low temperatures, caused by a jet stream pulling Arctic Air south, and heavy rain, which meteorologists say has been caused by climate change.
The death of the 84-year-old woman in Cyprus follows reports of the death of a 91-year-old woman on Friday as temperatures pushed 45C (113F).
Health officials said a woman died at Nicosia General Hospital suffering from heatstroke.
Another five elderly patients were being treated in hospitals with severe symptoms of heatstroke.
Charilaou told reporters the woman suffered a cardiac arrest twice on arrival at Nicosia’s accident and emergency department.
‘After investigating the incident, A&E doctors determined that the cardiac arrest was a result of heatstroke,’ Charilaou said.
He said hospitals have been dealing with cases of heat exhaustion for several days.
On Friday, Cyprus issued its first red alert of the summer for extreme heat, with the Meteorological Department confirming that maximum temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius.
Due to the extremely high temperatures, the Department of Labour Inspection halted heavy and moderate outdoor work during the afternoon.
Firefighters are meanwhile battling fires just south of the capital of Nicosia, where more than 1.2 square miles (3.2 sq km) of forest were scorched, threatening a village.
Last week, 49 residents in two communities in the island’s western Paphos district were evacuated to hotels as a wildfire threatened their homes, while aircraft from Greece and Jordan joined the firefighting efforts.
Weather experts say that heatwaves of over 40 C are becoming longer in duration.
Friday’s record temperature was 10 degrees above the seasonal average for Cyprus.
Greece was also forced to close its famous Acropolis to tourists this week as it braced for a 43C (109F) heatwave.
The Acropolis hill, including the Parthenon temple, was shut from noon to 5pm local time on Wednesday, with Red Cross staff on hand to offer free bottles of water to tourists.
Many schools were also told to close until the end of the week.
The orders were followed by fires that, according to the National Observatory of Athens, consumed nearly 175,000 hectares (432,000 acres) of forest and farmland.
In central Athens, the mercury climbed to 42C, with the forecast heat prompting health warnings and school closures.
Still hotter temperatures were recorded on the island of Crete – 44.5C – and on the Peloponnese peninsula – 43.9 degrees Celsius — according to the meteo.gr website of the Athens National Observatory.
Temperatures are being driven by southerly winds dragging hot air and dust north from North Africa.
Last year, the country weathered deadly wildfires and flooding through the summer holiday season, causing the evacuations of tens of thousands of people.
Greece offered holidaymakers free holidays in Rhodes to those affected by the fires after tourists had to sleep on airport floors as they awaited their evacuation.
Turkey has also been hit by heatwaves this week, with air temperatures between eight and 12C higher than seasonal norms.
In France, hundreds of firefighters battled a powerful blaze to the north of Saint-Tropez this week which caught crews off-guard.
Across Europe, heatwave-linked deaths are reported to have increased 30 per cent over the last 20 years – with last year the warmed on record in Europe.
Britain has just avoided the heatwave, instead being blighted by strong winds and heavy rains as temperatures drop to three to five centigrade lower than seasonal averages.
The Met Office says there remains a chance of downpours on the final weekend of the month.
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The conditions are a stark contrast to this time last year when the mercury hit 30C (86F), making it the hottest June on record.
Temperatures on the whole have been getting hotter in Britain in recent years. Until 2003, the hottest day on record in the UK was just 38.5C. This rose to 38.7C in 2019 and 40.3C in 2022.
Last year saw the hottest June on record across the month.
Temperatures this year have been affected by the polar front jet stream looping south of the UK and keeping colder temperatures in Britain as the continent swelters.
Forecasters suggested the trend could subside by June 20, predicting a so-called ‘mega heatwave’ of temperatures up to 25C in the capital next week.
Meteorologists blame the deluge of rain on climate change, however, which lets the atmosphere carry more moisture.
Parts of Spain have also been hit by heavy rains causing severe flooding across the nation this week.
Severe flooding caused flights to be grounded at the Mallorca’s airport in Palma, with up to 53 litres per square metre recorded.
In Murcia, southern Spain, 25 litres of rainfall were expected this week after towns experienced a deluge earlier in the week.
Olive farms were destroyed by the rain, farmers reporting tens of thousands of hectares of land being affected.
Forecasts suggested much of the Middle East, North Africa and Mediterranean Europe would experience extreme heat this week linked to climate change.
More than 290 million people were likely to be affected, made ‘five times more likely because of human-caused climate change’, the independent Climate Central nonprofit reported.
Temperatures were expected to pass 40C in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan and Greece.
In Saudi Arabia, at least 19 Jordanian and Iranian pilgrims died while taking part in the hajj pilgrimage, authorities said today as temperatures continued to rise.
‘Fourteen Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing’ during the performance of hajj rituals, Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry later confirmed the 14 had died ‘after suffering sun stroke due to the extreme heat wave’.
Iranian Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand separately said ‘five Iranian pilgrims have lost their lives so far in Mecca and Medina during the hajj this year’, without saying how they died.
Some two million people were expected to observe the hajj this year as numbers returned to their pre-pandemic level.
Climate Central reported Israel and the Gaza Strip, currently in the midst of a devastating conflict, could experience temperature highs between 30C and 38C.
Gazans this week described life in makeshift tent camps as ‘hell’, with hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes by the war.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
