Some parts of Western Europe were starting to cool off as the extreme heat that has gripped the continent moved east.

Climate change caused by humans played a direct role in the deaths of about 1,504 people during a heat wave that struck Europe last week, a new report has found. Warming linked to the combustion of fossil fuels nearly tripled the number of heat-related fatalities that occurred during the June 23 to July 2 period,

The heat was so expansive that mountaintops, including the French Alps, that are usually frozen from snowpack saw record temperatures. Heat records were set for June in Spain and Portugal.

As millions across Europe endure a blistering heat wave, with record temperatures triggering emergency alerts from Spain to the UK, experts are sounding the alarm over what they describe as a silent and increasingly deadly global crisis.

Around 2,300 people died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during the severe heatwave that ended last week, according to an analysis.

Water temperatures have surged above 85 degrees in the Mediterranean Sea, where records have been broken every day for weeks.