Finnish grocery store holds a sleepover for people to cool-off in red-hot European heatwave

A supermarket chain in Finland invited 100 customers to spend the night at its air-conditioned store in Helsinki as Europe suffers a record-breaking heatwave.
K-Supermarket said on Facebook that patrons needing to cool down could stay overnight at the store also get supper and breakfast on request. 

Apartments and homes in the Nordic country are equipped to deal with the extreme cold and damp, but few have air conditioning.

Operations manager Marika Lindfors said the idea came from customers who 'told me half-jokingly that it'd be a great thing to be able to sleep at a cool supermarket.' 

'We always try to respond to client feedback, so why not here, too?' Lindfors added.

The Spanish city of Cordoba reached 108F (42C) yesterday as the heatwave which has already killed three people continues to blast the continent.

Spain has issued health warnings in 41 of the country's 50 provinces and eight locations in Portugal have already broken local temperature records thanks to the Iberian Plume.

A middle-aged man in Barcelona was found collapsed on a street on Friday and taken to hospital where he later died of heatstroke, bringing the heatwave's death toll to three this week.    

Operations manager Marika Lindfors said the idea came from customers who 'told me half-jokingly that it'd be a great thing to be able to sleep at a cool supermarket.' 

'We always try to respond to client feedback, so why not here, too?' Lindfors added.

The Spanish city of Cordoba reached 108F (42C) yesterday as the heatwave which has already killed three people continues to blast the continent.

Forecasts indicate that the hot air from Africa, which turned parts of the sky a dark yellow hue because of the dust it carried, will not abate until early next week. 

The man, who was discovered in Berlin Street near Sants Train Station and was thought to be homeless, has not been named.

Around the same time a 78-year-old man was rushed unconscious to hospital in Murcia in south-east Spain after collapsing in his orchard.

Two other men - a roadworker in his 40s and a 78-year-old pensioner tending to his vegetable garden - also died from heatstroke this week. 

The World Meteorological Organization says continental Europe's record is 118.4F (48C) in Greece in 1977.