Death rate doubles in Moscow as heatwave and fires burn on

The mortality rate in Moscow has doubled as the heatwave and wildfires continue in the Russian capital. The city’s health chief, Andrei Seltsovsky, has confirmed that there are twice as many bodies in Moscow’s morgues than normal. Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared as wildfires near a nuclear reprocessing plant in the southern Ural.

This year’s grain harvest is also going to be worse than previously thought, according to the country’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Originally forecast to be 65m tonnes, after being wiped out by fire and drought, the estimate now stands at 60m tonnes. Russian is one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, sending grain to Syria, Egypt and Turkey.

After another weekend of hot, dry weather, 557 fires were burning in Russia on Monday, according to the emergencies ministry. While the peat and bog fires are being extinguished as quickly as possible, new ones are popping up in their wake at an even greater rate. Moscow is particularly hard hit, with the capital city engulfed in smoke from the surrounding wildfires.

According to Alexander Frolov, the head of the state weather service, this year’s heatwave is the worst in the 1,000 years of recorded Russian history.

In a statement, Mr Seltsovsky said that around 700 people-a-day are dying in Moscow as compared to the usual 360-380. He added that 1,300 of the 1,500 available places in Moscow’s morgues are already occupied.