Paris mortuaries overwhelmed as Europe’s record heat drives up death toll

Every few minutes, the mortuary owner’s phone rings. Since a record-smashing heatwave started taking lives and storage space for bodies in Paris and beyond, the funeral directors and mourning families calling him mostly have the same question: do you have room for one more? With all 32 places in his cold room taken, Zouhaeir Hertelli reluctantly has to gently say “Non”, over and over and over again. “We’re facing a really catastrophic situation,” he said. “I’m getting hundreds of calls.” As the.