The World - News from July 29, 1987

Temperatures fell below 100 as northerly breezes helped cool off a nine-day heat wave in Greece that has killed 688 people, kept hospitals on alert and sent Athens residents fleeing to the beaches and the countryside in search of relief. “It looks like the heat wave finally is over,” said a weather bureau official. The forecast was for highs of around 97 degrees until the end of the week, followed by lower temperatures. Most of the 688 dead were elderly Greeks with heart ailments and people with respiratory problems, Athens coroner Philippos Koutsaftis said. No foreign tourists were reported to have died in the heat wave.