[Anchor]

The scorching heatwave is taking a heavy toll on human lives, with a particularly high number of elderly people collapsing while working alone in fields and paddies.

Reporter Hong Seung-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Yellow police tape surrounds a chili pepper field.

On the afternoon of the 3rd, a woman in her 70s was found dead while working in the field.

At the time, daytime temperatures exceeded 35°C (95°F).

[Nearby Resident: She hadn't come back, so we went out to the field to look for her and found her there. She must have died while working in that scorching heat.]

Black plastic mulch used to protect crops absorbs heat directly, making the surface of the soil even hotter than the air.

With temperatures having risen past 3 o'clock in the afternoon to 36°C (97°F),

measuring the ground temperature in the field shows it soaring well past 60°C (140°F).

According to official figures from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, about 300 heat-related illness patients have occurred in fields and paddies this year alone, with 6 deaths.

Over the two days of the 3rd and 4th, 5 farmers lost their lives in the Chungcheong and Jeonbuk regions, and the scale of casualties is expected to grow further when local government tallies are included.

Drones have even been mobilized to recommend halting work during broad daylight.

[The risk of heat-related illness is extremely high. All farmers, please refrain from outdoor work...]

However, farmers facing the upcoming harvest find themselves unable to put down their tools.

[Kim Nak-yoon / Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province: We have no choice, even if it is hot. The crops we worked so hard to grow will all wither.]

[Yoon Yong-san / Asan, South Chungcheong Province: We cannot stop. If we miss the time to harvest them, they rot and just go bad...]

Experts call for measures that reflect the reality of rural communities, which have a high population of elderly residents.

[Jung Soon-dul / Professor, Department of Social Welfare, Ewha Womans University: This can be seen as a disaster caused by new climate change. Elderly people, for instance, may have a lower perception of it. There is a need to build a system that can respond to this, such as sending customized text messages.]

As statistics show that about 17% of heat-related illness patients over the past three years occurred during farming, the Rural Development Administration emphasized minimizing work during daytime hours and immediately stopping work to rest if symptoms like headaches or dizziness appear.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

(Video by Kim Min-chul | Video Editing by Yoon Tae-ho)