Heat wave kills five on Spain's Canary Islands
Pastor Dale Morgan
Heat wave kills five on Spain's Canary Islands*
MADRID, Aug 2 (AFP) Aug 02, 2007
A heat wave that hit Spain's Canary Islands in the past week, fueling
wildfires that forced thousands of people from their homes, has killed
at least five people, local health officials said Thursday.
An 88-year-old woman died Thursday at a hospital in Las Palmas on the
isle of Gran Canaria because the scorching temperatures caused her
chronic illness to worsen, a government health services spokesman said.
Three other women between the ages of 60 and 95 on the island of
Lanzarote, and a 94-year-old man on Gran Canaria, died due to the heat
over the past two days, he added.
Temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) earlier
this week in the seven-island archipelago located off the coast of Morocco.
The arrival of cooler temperatures on Wednesday helped firefighters gain
control of fires on Gran Canaria and Tenerife which devastated 35,000
hectares (85,000 acres) of land on the two islands over six days.
The blazes also forced more than 12,000 tourists and residents to flee
their homes and hotels.