Russians worry heat wave deaths underreported

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38625697/ns/world_news-europe/

msnbc.com news services
updated 2 hours 54 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Muscovites are dying from extreme heat and smoke faster than their bodies can be stored, cremated or buried, and Russians are worried the death toll could be far higher than the official count.

Morgues are overflowing and one crematorium in the Russian capital is working around the clock in three shifts, according to staff, even as the health ministry disputes a senior doctor's statement that the monthly death toll doubled in July.

In Mitino on Moscow's northwest, a note at a crematorium warned that it was not accepting any new orders for cremation.

The crematorium's four furnaces are currently "processing" 49 bodies per day, with cremations every 20 minutes, according to a timetable available at the reception.

"Furnaces overheat in these temperatures, and we have to cool them," Vladimir, a security guard, told Reuters. "In practice, there are up to 80-90 cremations per day, and the crematorium's teams work in three shifts day and night to cope."

The Khimkinskoye cemetery in northern Moscow was packed with funeral buses, with a dozen burial ceremonies taking place.

"Since this heat nightmare started ... there has been a drastic increase in funerals over the past two months, two or three times above the average," a cemetery worker said.

As the scorching heat sets new temperature records almost daily and a thick acrid smog from forest fires chokes the giant city of over 10 million, the question of the real number of heat-induced deaths has become a political issue for Muscovites.

Official data show at least 52 people have died in severe fires raging in parts of European Russia in the past few weeks.

But there are no statistics referring to Moscow, amid some media reports that the city's paramedics are told not to include "heat stroke" in death records "to avoid panic."

Deaths double?

But the head of the city's health department Andrei Seltsovsky said Monday that deaths had almost doubled to 700 daily, with heat being the main killer.

"The average death rate in the city during normal times is between 360 and 380 people per day. Today, we are around 700," Seltsovsky told a city government meeting.

He said heat stroke was the main cause of the recent increase in deaths. Ambulance dispatches in Moscow were up by about a quarter to 10,000 a day and problems linked to heart disease, bronchial asthma and strokes had increased, he said.

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Acrid smog blanketed Moscow for a sixth straight day Monday, with concentrations of carbon monoxide and other poisonous substances two to three times higher than what is considered safe. Those airborne pollutants reached a record over the weekend — exceeding the safe limit by nearly seven times.

About 550 separate blazes were burning nationwide Monday, mainly across western Russia, including about 40 around Moscow, according to the Emergencies Ministry. Forest and peat bog fires have been triggered by the most intense heat wave in 130 years of record keeping.

Alexander Frolov, head of Russia's weather service, said judging by historic documents, this heat wave could be the worst in up to 1,000 years.

"Our ancestors haven't observed or registered a heat like that within 1,000 years," Frolov said at a news conference. "This phenomenon is absolutely unique."

He said the heat in Moscow reflects the global climate's increased volatility.

Daily highs have reached up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the usual summer average of 75 F. And, according to the forecast, there will be no respite this week.

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