Countries in Europe reported over 10,000 excess deaths during the extreme heatwaves that baked the west of the continent towards the end of June.

Axar.az reports, citing Euronews, the vast majority of the fatalities, in excess of 9,000, were recorded among those aged 65 and over, according to data published by ‌EuroMOMO, the European mortality monitor which is backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation.

The European heatwaves have seen temperature records broken in several countries across Europe and have caused thousands of excess deaths, according to estimates in Belgium, Britain, France and Spain.

The June heatwaves would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.