Parents Detained After Twin 15-Month-Old Girls Found Dead From Dehydration in Beuvrages

Two 15-month-old twin girls were found dead in their beds in Beuvrages, near Valenciennes in Nord, after authorities said they died "from dehydration" as France battled a heatwave.

“Twin toddlers found dead from dehydration in northern France; parents detained Parents taken into custody as investigation launched into circumstances of their deaths, according to local media Necva Taştan Sevinç 29 June 2026•Update: 29 June 2026 Archive İSTANBUL Two 15-month-old twin girls were reportedly found dead from dehydration at their home in northern France on Monday, while their parents were taken into police custody as an investigation was launched into the circumstances of their deaths”

Anadolu Ajansı

The deaths were discovered after the parents called emergency services at 1:30pm on Monday, and the public prosecutor of Valenciennes confirmed the twins were found "lifeless in their respective beds".

Anadolu Ajansı

Investigators said four other children in the same household, aged three, four, five and six, were also found suffering from dehydration, with one sibling reported in critical condition after an emergency airlift.

RTL reported the parents discovered the twins deceased in bed, with sources in France claiming they were allegedly in a state of rigor mortis, while emergency services and police sealed off the residence pending investigation.

An autopsy was scheduled for June 30 to establish the circumstances of the deaths, with the prosecutor exploring "the possibility of dehydration due to the high temperature recorded."

The parents were placed in police custody after the twins were discovered, with the couple transported to Valenciennes police station while their residence was cordoned off pending investigation.

The public prosecutor of Valenciennes said the case was being examined as "deprivation of care resulting in the death of a minor under 15 years of age", and an autopsy was planned for June 30.

Daily Record

Anadolu Ajansı reported that emergency responders found the children in a state of rigor mortis and that investigators had not yet determined the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

South China Morning Post said French police on Monday detained a couple after the twins died of suspected dehydration, and a police source said the parents alerted emergency services in Beuvrages after discovering the twins in their beds.

The same reporting described the four other children, aged three, four, five and six, as hospitalised with dehydration, while the source said they were not in life-threatening condition.

The investigation’s immediate focus is the prosecutor’s stated possibility that the deaths were linked to heat, with the public prosecutor of Valenciennes exploring "the possibility of dehydration due to the high temperature recorded."

“Twin sisters, 15-months-old, found dead in bed 'from dehydration' as parents in custody Twin girls, just 15-months old, have been found dead in their beds in a state of rigor mortis, according to reports in France, as the parents have been arrested with another sibling in a critical condition Fifteen-month-old twin sisters have reportedly died "from dehydration" after being found dead tucked up in beds in France”

Daily Star

The Mirror reported that an autopsy due to be carried out on Tuesday would "explore in particular the possibility of dehydration due to the high temperature recorded in the room".

Beyond the household, the heatwave context in the sources includes France seeing around 1,000 additional deaths last week, with Public Health France reporting more than 1,200 deaths last Wednesday and increasing to more than 1,400 deaths on each of the two following days.

Mirror also said the agency concluded France experienced a total of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three days alone, and that the estimate was cautioned to be likely to increase as more data is collected, including for deaths at home.

The same heatwave reporting said 85% of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above, and it described funeral directors struggling to find space for bodies in Paris’s overwhelmed mortuaries as temperatures rose above 40C for several days.