French authorities have recorded 74 drowning deaths since June 18, linked to the severe heatwave gripping the country, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced in an interview on Saturday.
The minister said the deaths occurred "largely in unauthorised and unsupervised bodies of water: rivers, lakes and ponds in particular", adding that "drowning cases in private swimming pools" had also been recorded.
In an interview with Le Parisien published on Saturday, he added: "There is a phenomenon of heat shock, and sometimes excessive physical activity... We are seeing a large number of deaths from cardiac arrests."