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Heat wave claims 14 in Australia

BRISBANE: A heat wave in the tropical Australian state of Queensland had left 14 people dead in just two days, authorities said on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Ambulance Service said most of the victims had been in their 80s but one woman was only 35.

Ambulance officers attended 220 heat stroke cases in the greater Brisbane area of Friday and Saturday alone, the spokeswoman said, with 70 of those victims admitted to hospital.

According to the weather bureau, temperatures in south-east Queensland peaked at 41 degrees Celcius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) over the weekend, with Brisbane seeing its highest January temperature since records began in 1935.

Many of the heat-stroke victims were elderly people who were found inside locked houses, the ambulance service spokeswoman said.

"The houses are like furnaces when we arrive," she said.

Meteorologists said temperatures were expected to ease in the coming days. AFP