シャンパン産地に熱波　ブドウ収穫作業で死者４人

【リールＡＦＰ＝時事】熱波に見舞われたシャンパンの産地として知られるフランス北東部シャンパーニュ地方で、ブドウを収穫していた作業員４人が死亡した。当局は熱中症が原因の疑いがあるとして調査している。（写真はブドウを収穫する人）
　シャンパーニュ地方ではここ何日かの間に、ブドウの収穫中に男性が２人、トラクターから落下し病院へ搬送された作業員１人が死亡した。また作業中に意識を失った女性１人も、数日後に自宅で死亡した。いずれも検視は命じられていない。
　同地方では先々週末、今年の最高気温３４度を記録した。ワイン生産者らは、暑さのせいで亡くなったのではないかと懸念している。
　シャンパーニュ地方ワイン生産同業委員会のマキシム・トゥバール共同会長はＡＦＰに「非常に悲しい。皆、命を落とすために収穫に参加しているのではない」と述べた。
　同地方では毎年２週間に及ぶ収穫期に約１２万人が作業を手伝うが、心不全や動脈瘤（りゅう）で亡くなる人が「１人か２人」いるという。
　ブドウの収穫は過酷な仕事で、心構えが大事だとトゥバール氏は言う。「体のコンディションを屋外での仕事に合わせて整えずに来る人が増えている。朝食をとらない、水分補給をしない、治療薬を飲んでいる、シャツを着ないで上半身裸で作業するといった若者もいる」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/09/19-16:40）

French authorities were on Thursday investigating the deaths of four people who were harvesting grapes in the famed Champagne region, as locals suspected they suffered sunstroke in unusually high outdoor temperatures.
Prosecutors in the cities of Reims and Chalons-en-Champagne said two men died in recent days while picking grapes, one woman died at home a few days after feeling faint during her vineyard work, while a fourth died in hospital after falling from a straddle tractor without showing any physical injuries from the fall.
None of the deaths was being considered suspicious and no autopsies ordered, prosecutors said.
They declined to comment on any possible link to high temperatures, reported at up to 34 Celsius (93F) in the region at the end of last week.
But winegrowers said the heat might be to blame.
Maybe it will turn out that the sun had something to do with this, said Maxime Toubart, head of the Champagne growers' association.
I am very sad, he told AFP. People don't join the harvest to lose their lives.
Some 120,000 people were helping with the two-week harvest every year and obviously you're going to have some accidents, he said. Every year, one or two people died from heart failure or aneurysms, he said.
One risk factor was the lack of physical preparedness for what was a demanding job, he said.
More and people come here without being in the physical shape needed for outdoor work. Some young people don't have breakfast, don't hydrate, are on medication or working shirtless, he said.
Grapes for champagne are grown on 34 hectares in eastern France, where over 16,000 growers produce over 300 million bottles of champagne each year.
The United States are the main export market for champagne, followed by the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany.