According to the French health minister, a pair of deadly heat waves that hit France in summer was responsible for the deaths of at least 1500 people.

Speaking on France Inter radio on Sunday, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said that close to 1500 people perished in the heat waves in France, 1000 more than the average number. During the heat waves, the southern town of Gallargues-le-Montueux recorded the highest ever temperature recorded in France, according to a national weather service.

France and other parts of Europe experienced two deadly heat waves from June 24 to July 7, and July 21 to July 27. Record-breaking temperatures were witnessed in France and Europe. On June 28, a temperature of 45.9 degrees Celsius (114.6 Fahrenheit) was recorded in France, which is the highest ever recorded in the country.

According to a news release by the French health ministry, the casualties in the heat waves were 9.1% higher than usual. Greenhouse emissions and rising temperatures which lead to such heat waves, can make higher temperatures a normal phenomenon in Europe, according to experts.

According to the health ministry, elderly people were more vulnerable to scorching heat waves. Half of the people who died in the heat waves of June and July were over 75, Buzyn said. 10 people who were working, the majority of them outdoors, too fell prey to the scorching heat.

Buzyn said that a public awareness campaign had helped avert many deaths which would otherwise have happened.

"We have succeeded — thanks to prevention, thanks to workable messages the French population heeded — to reduce fatalities by a factor of 10," she said.

This is not the first time that heat waves have hit France, with similar episodes happening in the summer of 2015 and 2018. Buzyn said that the current heat wave was much less fatal than the one in 2003 which claimed 15,000 lives.

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