Official Resigns Over Heat Fatalities
A senior health official resigned after France’s health minister admitted that up to 5,000 people might have died in the recent heat wave. The departure of Lucien Abenhaim, director general of health, was expected to increase pressure on Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei to step down.
Mattei’s agency previously estimated that 1,600 to 3,000 people died of heat-related causes starting Aug. 7, most of them elderly. Many of the deaths resulted from dehydration or heatstroke, doctors said. Temperatures exceeded 104 degrees.
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