PARIS, August 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Dozens of people have died in Europe due to an unprecedented heatwave that resulted in several fires along the continent, while heavy rains have caused the death of dozens others in Africa.

"In the last four days there have been practically 50 deaths due to the heat," the president of the French emergency doctors' association, Patrick Pelloux, said Sunday August 10.

Yet, the National Health Service (DGS) spokesperson said that no accurate statistics existed on recent deaths due to the oppressive heat, with most Europeans drenched in sweat from the abnormally high temperatures for the past two weeks.

In statements made to the French Le Parisien newspaper, Pelloux accused the health service of not taking the situation seriously. "They dare to say that these deaths are natural. I absolutely do not agree with that," he said.

“We confront a real massacre in August, but the health authorities do not realize the gravity of the situation,” said Pelloux.

"No statistics are being gathered, there's no general information, nothing. Meanwhile the old are dying of heat," he added.

Meanwhile, British National Meteorological Center declared Sunday August 11 that Britain saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the country, with the thermometer rising to 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 Fahrenheit) in Gravesend in southern England.

The new record had already been shattered twice during Sunday, first at Heathrow airport early in the afternoon, with 37.4 Celsius, before later going up to 37.9 Celsius, or 100.2 Fahrenheit in mid-afternoon, meteorologists said.

The previous record in the blistering heatwave that has much of Europe groaning under oppressive temperatures and a drought was 37.1 degrees Celsius (98.8 Fahrenheit), set in central England in August 1990.

It is worth noting that the heatwave witnessed by Europe this week has killed 19 in Spain and 15 in Portugal.

Three people were known to have died and three were missing in torrential rainstorms that hit the west African state of Senegal over the weekend.

The state-controlled media has quoted Gabard Diop, head of the national firefighting service, as saying that motorized pumps were being used in several regions to remove flood waters.

In the worst single incident, a vehicle carrying five people was washed away in the central region of Nioro, a rescue official said on national radio. Two bodies were found, and the other three occupants of the vehicle were missing.

A third fatality occurred in the northern region of Matam, where a six-year-old child died, according to the national APS news agency.

The authorities declared an emergency in the northern region of Kanel, where 152 millimeters (six inches) of rain fell in 24 hours, the reports said.

Most of Senegal, with the exception of the capital Dakar, was hit by rainstorms which began on Friday.

Three people were killed, including a child, as torrential rains wreaked devastation across southern Mauritania over the past three days, official sources and witnesses said Sunday August 11.

The downpour killed three people in the southeast of the country, including a child in the town of Timbedra in the Saharan country.

Some southern districts had almost a full year's average rainfall in 24 hours, destroying houses and flooding markets. The army and emergency services are bringing help to affected areas.

Fears In Sudan

The river, which flows into Sudan, has also caused heavy losses downstream.