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ROME, June 27: The heat wave that hit much of Europe in 2003 killed almost 20,000 people throughout Italy, the national statistics institute said on Monday, more than doubling the previous official estimate of the toll and taking it above that recorded in neighbouring France. The report by the Istat institute found that 20,000 more people died in the country between July and Sept 2003 than in the same period of the previous year.
The 2003 heat wave killed an estimated 15,000 mostly elderly people in France, causing a political shockwave in a country that prides itself on its public health system.—AFP
