Belgrade - Eastern Europe sweltered in a pre-summer heat wave Wednesday that pushed temperatures to a 121-year high in Belgrade and halted a Hungarian train after the tracks bent. In Bulgaria, temperatures reached 35 degrees Celsius in the western part of the country, the highest in a century for the end of May, the Meteorological Institute in Sofia said.
Belgrade, Serbia's capital, had 39 degrees, the highest May heat since 1887, meteorologists said. Neighbouring Macedonia recorded 38 degrees in the south and 35 degrees in the capital Skopje.
Szeged, a Hungarian city near the Romanian and Serbian borders, reported 34 degrees, the highest for the day since record-keeping began.
Similar heat bent the tracks on a railroad line between the capital Budapest and the northern town of Esztergom, forcing a train to stop. Passengers had to switch to buses.
Last year, the region was hit by a severe July heatwave that caused dozens of casualties, forest fires and a state of emergency in several countries, including Serbia and Macedonia.
