August heatwave claims 2,149 lives in Spain

Official data released on Tuesday showed that approximately 2,150 people are believed to have died from heat-related causes in Spain during August, following unprecedented heatwaves that swept across Western Europe this summer.

According to the daily mortality monitoring system of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Spain recorded 2,149 heat-related deaths in August, marking the second-highest total for the month since data recording began in 2015, after August of last year, which saw 2,184 deaths.

The system’s estimates indicate that 5,234 people died from heat-related causes between May 15 and August 31, the highest tally recorded for this period of the summer since the monitoring system was launched, excluding September data.