In France, a funeral home is overwhelmed as the heatwave's death toll rises [View all]

Source: Reuters

By Lucien Libert and Lauren Bacquie
June 30, 2026 11:19 AM EDT

Summary

• France recorded at least 1,000 excess deaths from last Wednesday to Sunday
• Hertelli says 32 refrigerated mortuary spaces at his funeral home are all occupied
• Crematorium appointments are already delayed until July 10, he says

PARIS, June 30 (Reuters) - Undertaker Zouhaier Hertelli is receiving panicked calls from families, retirement homes, and even the police desperately ‌trying to find space in refrigerated mortuary storage for people who died during the heatwave that has been gripping France.

There were at least 1,000 excess deaths from last Wednesday to Sunday, France's public health agency said, adding that the numbers were not final and were bound to increase.

Hertelli's ​funeral home in Orly, near Paris, has room to store 32 bodies in its cold storage room and ​all are occupied, Hertelli said, pointing to the compartments, each with a label with the ⁠name of the deceased, the date at which the body arrived at the funeral home and the temperature at which ​they are stored ahead of a burial or cremation.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/france-funeral-home-is-overwhelmed-heatwaves-death-toll-rises-2026-06-30/

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(Video at the link)