Europe's record-breaking heatwave has claimed at least three thousand seven hundred lives in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

According to preliminary official figures, the excess death toll includes two thousand twenty-five deaths in France, around twelve hundred in Belgium, and about four hundred eighty deaths in the Netherlands, with authorities warning that the number could rise as more data becomes available.

Scientists say the late-June heatwave was the most severe ever recorded in Europe and was made significantly more likely by human-induced climate change.