Forest fires plague Hungary despite break in deadly heat wave

Jul 25, 2007, 14:27 GMT

Budapest - Hungarian fire fighters were battling a forest fire that broke out in the south of the country Wednesday afternoon despite a break in the heatwave that health officials say claimed 500 lives.

Temperatures had dropped into the twenties after a week of hovering around the 40 degrees Celsius mark, yet around 70 fire fighters still had to battle a fire that raged over 100 hectares (one square kilometre) of forest.

The blaze broke out near the town of Kiskunhalas, where a temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius - the hottest in Hungary's history - was recorded last Friday.

Over 1,000 hectares of forest have burned so far during the heat wave, which has also brought a heavy human cost.

Hungary's Chief Medical Officer Ferenc Falus on Tuesday said that during the last week 30 per cent more people had died in Central Hungary than would be expected during 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.

The deaths were mainly amongst the elderly and were brought on by heatstroke, cardiovascular problems and other illnesses aggravated by the heat.

Falus said that while this was a question of statistics, it was clear that the heat had brought the deaths of many elderly people forward by around six months.

Neighbouring Romania has also reported 30 deaths due to the heat, while Serbia's Agriculture Ministry said that as much as 30 per cent of crops could have been destroyed during the unseasonably hot weather.

Hundreds of forest fires have also been reported in Greece.