FRANCE: JACQUES CHIRAC ATTENDS FUNERALS IN PARIS OF THE DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING THE HEATWAVE AND WHOSE BODIES WERE UNCLAIMED.

Record ID: 646928

  • Title: FRANCE: JACQUES CHIRAC ATTENDS FUNERALS IN PARIS OF THE DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING THE HEATWAVE AND WHOSE BODIES WERE UNCLAIMED.
  • Date: 3rd September 2003
  • Summary: (U4) PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 3, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: EXTERIOR OF CEMETERY. 0.10 2. WS/MLV: OF POLICEMEN OUTSIDE CEMETERY. (2 SHOTS) 0.17 3. LAS: PEOPLE ARRIVING AT CEMETERY. 0.25 4. TRACK: FUNERAL SERVICE VAN ARRIVING. 0.34 5. WS: POLICE BIKES PRECEDING OFFICIAL CARS ARRIVING. 0.50 6. SCU: ONLOOKERS. 0.54 7. TRACK: CAR CARRYING FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC ARRIVING. 1.04 8. MV: ONLOOKERS AND JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE CEMETERY. 1.10 9. CU\; (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED ONLOOKER, SAYING: "I'm sad to see how some families have reacted, to see that there are so few people here today." 1.17 10. CU: BUNCH OF FLOWERS. 1.22 11. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED ONLOOKER, SAYING: "Each one of us had to become aware of what was going on, try to get some news, do a little gesture. I think some of them could have been saved. When we see that some of these people stayed 10 or 15 days in their apartments before anyone realised that they were dead, it shows you that we live in a very individualistic society." 1.40 12. MV: ONLOOKERS. 1.45 13. MV: FUNERAL SERVICE CARS ARRIVING. 1.56 14. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARIS MAYOR BERTRAND DELANOE, SAYING: "Ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to have a ceremony to mourn these dead Parisians who do not have a family. I wanted it to be very sober and dignified, with beautiful music and a very nice text. Excuse me if I did not accept the media, but I thought that allowing Parisians to mourn these people through their elected officials demanded utmost sobriety and restraint. It was a way of being close to these dead ones at such an important moment. The President told me yesterday that he would want to attend, and it was only logical that I should move up the ceremony by one hour so that he could be here. Thank you." ( DELANOE WALKS AWAY FROM MICROPHONE) 3.10 15. VARIOUSMV/WS: OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE CEMETERY. 3.21 16. TRACK: CHIRAC LEAVES CEMETARY BY CAR. 3.31 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA1MBD4B24J6SN1INRXAT3TDYOX
  • Story Text: The unclaimed bodies of dozens of people who died
    during the heatwave, have been buried in Paris.



    More than 60 people who died in a heatwave in France
    this summer, and whose bodies have been left unclaimed,
    were buried in a joint ceremony in Paris on Wednesday
    (September 3).

    Hit by the worst heatwave since records began in 1945,
    France recorded around 11,400 more deaths than usual in the
    first two weeks of August. Pensioners were hit hardest as
    rocketing temperatures caused dehydration and hyperthermia.

    The dead whose bodies have not been claimed were
    buried in a special ceremony in a section of Paris' Thiais
    cemetery, which is normally reserved for the poor. The
    ceremony was attended by president Jacques Chirac and Paris
    Mayor Bertrand Delanoe.

    "I wanted to have a ceremony to mourn these dead
    Parisians who do not have a family. I wanted it to be very
    sober and dignified, with beautiful music and a very nice
    text," Delanoe told journalists outside the cemetery.

    "Excuse me if I did not accept the media, but I thought
    that allowing Parisians to mourn these people through their
    elected officials demanded utmost sobriety and restraint.

    It was a way of being close to these dead ones at such an
    important moment," he added.

    The burial was not religious as the faith of the dead
    was unknown. Relatives who come forward after the funeral
    will have the right for five years to exhume the bodies.

    The burial of the unclaimed bodies, mostly elderly
    people, is another gruesome chapter of the heatwave, which
    has seen refrigerator trucks and even a cool hall in a
    wholesale food market drafted into service as temporary
    morgues.





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