Heatwave

"Killer Heatwave Rips Through India and Pakistan - Temperatures Reach 50 Celsius, 122 Fahrenheit"

June 13, 2007

The intense heatwave in Pakistan and India claimed 156 more lives, raising the death toll due to oppressive heat conditions in the two countries to at least 340, media reports and officials said Tuesday.

Eight-two people perished in the heat-wave in Pakistan, with 75 deaths being reported from the central province of Punjab where the mercury hovered around 50 degrees Celsius on Monday, the Daily Express newspaper said.

In neighbouring India, at least 74 people died in the hot spell in northern and central regions on Monday, though light rain in some parts brought respite from the searing heat on Tuesday.

Hundreds more were hospitalized with heat stroke and gastroenteritis in Pakistan as the latest casualties raised the death toll to at least 192 in the current hot spell.

While temperatures touched 50 degrees Celsius in the plains areas of North-West Frontier Province, the meteorological department registered the record maximum temperature of 52 degrees Celsius in Sibi in the Baluchistan province.

Meanwhile, repeated power outages in the southern port city of Karachi prompted residents to block roads with burning tires in several districts, as well as pelt police vans with stones and harrass the offices of local electricity providers.

The Indian Meteorological Department said Sriganganagar and Churu towns in Rajasthan were the hottest, recording 46.3 degrees Celsius and 46.1 degrees Celsius respectively.

Weather officials, who pointed out that the heatwave was caused by winds from the Thar desert that straddles the southern-half of the India-Pakistan border, forecast that the affected regions would soon get a break from the killer heat.