FRANCE: French Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, ordered an inquiry yesterday to find out how many deaths were caused by a heat wave after a top funeral services group said thousands more may have died than previously thought.
The OGF group estimated that 10,416 more people died in the first three weeks of August than in the same period last year.
So far, the government has put the number of deaths linked to the heat wave at 3,000 and said a final toll as high as 5,000 was possible.
Mr Raffarin's government was criticised for failing to act fast enough to deal with the plight of the country's elderly and frail as temperatures soared above 40 degrees.
"Out of respect for those affected by this painful crisis, we need a scientific study to establish reliable figures. We all need to know the truth," his office said in a statement.
"The study should take no longer than a month. Until then, all estimates and projections should be handled with care." Opposition leaders want a parliamentary inquiry into the conservative government's handling of the crisis, which saw hospitals filled with patients suffering heat-related conditions and funeral services stretched to their limit. Temperatures cooled at the weekend.
President Jacques Chirac, who returned from a holiday in Canada yesterday, has asked to be briefed on the government's handling of the heat wave at a cabinet meeting today.
Mr Lucien Abenhaim, the head of the national health authority, resigned on Monday after Health Minister, Mr Jean-Francois Mattei, said he had failed to give him adequate warnings as the number of deaths started to rise.