Portuguese health authorities say 1,316 people died from a heatwave in Iberian nation.
The figures were from a preliminary Health Ministry report on deaths between late July and August 12th, news agency Lusa reported. The estimate is based on a comparison with the same period last year.
The heatwave was the hottest and longest recorded in Portugal. It brought the country's worst forest fires in more than 20 years, with an area almost as big as Luxembourg destroyed and at least 15 people killed in blazes.
The number of deaths in Portugal were less than during a 1981 heatwave and about the same as one in 1991 because of emergency measures put in place because of the fires, Lusa said.