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Up to 500 deaths caused by heat in Hungary, top doctor says
Jul 24, 2007, 19:31 GMT
Budapest - Hungary's chief medical officer on Wednesday said that the recent heat wave in the country could have contributed to the deaths of up to 500 people.
Ferenc Falus said that during the last week 30 per cent more people had died than in a normal summer week.
'This means that in the given region the heat caused the early deaths of 230 more people, which on a national level means 500 people,' he said in a statement to MTI news agency.
Temperatures in Hungary soared to more than 40 degrees Celsius last week and the nation has been on its highest possible alert.
The highest temperature since records began was hit Friday when termometers in the southern town of Kiskunhalas notched up to 41.9 degrees.
The heat has abated somewhat this week, although in Budapest the local council is still handing out free water at busy junctions to help keep people cool.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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I was in Hungary last week (July 17-23) and can attest that it was unbearably hot and humid. In Budapest, the temperature was in the low 40s Celsius (38 degrees Celsius = 100 degrees Fahrenheit) all week. They said it was the hottest week of the year. Luckily we had a hotel room with air conditioning, although many of the old buildings in Europe do not have air conditioning. We witnessed a dog dying of heat exhaustion in the street. It was horrible. The only way to keep cool was to constantly drink water (which they were handing out for free in Szentendre), wear light clothing and a hat. People flocked to the water and the many spa bath houses to keep cool.
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BeelzebubJul 24th, 2007 - 20:00:55
I thought Hungary was cold.
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