- (Reuters) -- Portuguese health authorities said 1316
people had died from a heatwave that gripped the nation, news agency Lusa
reported.
-
- The figures were from a preliminary Health Ministry report
on deaths between late July and August 12, Lusa said late yesterday. The
estimate is based on a comparison with the same period last year.
-
- The heatwave was the hottest and longest recorded in
Portugal. It fanned the country's worst forest fires in more than 20 years,
which killed at least 15 people.
-
- The heatwave affected much of Europe, causing forest
fires and a number of deaths across the Continent.
-
- The number of deaths in Portugal were less than during
a 1981 heatwave and about the same as one in 1991 because of emergency
measures put in place because of the fires, Lusa said.
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- Copyright © 2003. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/21/1061387806495.html<
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