August 17, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 18, 1424

PARIS, Aug 16: With more than 3000 deaths linked directly to the record-level heat wave that hit Paris and France during the past three weeks, French authorities have found it necessary to requisition a 4,000 square-meter refrigeration unit at the Rungis marketplace south of Paris, which will allow them to hold up to 2000 corpses until they can be properly buried.

Only a few hours following its opening, public authorities had already started transferring cadavers to the facility, located near Orly Airport, with the backlog of deaths so important that already many of the corpses are being transferred directly to the refrigeration facility without going through a funeral.