At least 10 die due to heat wave in India

NEW DELHI

At least 10 people have died in several Indian states as the country reels under sizzling temperatures, officials told Anadolu on Friday.

In the eastern state of Bihar, officials said while five people are confirmed to have died because of heatstroke, another 20 people were brought dead to the hospital in the state’s Aurangabad city on Thursday and the exact cause of death is not known yet.

“About 49 more people are currently admitted in the hospital as well,” Kishore Kumar, a senior health official in Aurangabad told Anadolu.

Suspected heat-related deaths have also been reported in the eastern state of Odisha, while disaster officials in western Rajasthan state said they have confirmed four people dead due to the heat wave.

“After the postmortem, four people are confirmed to have died because of the heat wave,” Rakesh Kumar Meena, a Rajasthan disaster management official, told Anadolu.

Several Indian cities are reeling under a heat wave, with temperatures above 49C (120.2 F).

Indian national capital New Delhi recorded an all-time high temperature of 52.9C (127.2F). The weather department, however, said the reading recorded could be an error and they were investigating.

This week, the national capital also recorded its first heat wave-related death and now the residents are facing water shortage amid the record temperatures.

On Friday, the Indian Met Department said “heat wave/severe heat wave intensity” has slightly reduced over some parts of Northwest India compared to Friday. It, however, said heat wave to severe heat wave conditions prevailed in some parts of the country.

This month, popular Indian film star Shah Rukh Khan suffered a heat stroke and was admitted to a hospital in western Indian Gujarat state.

While May is considered the hottest month during the summer, the Indian weather department in its May weather outlook had said the number of heatwave days was likely to be "above normal by about 5-8 days" in several Indian states.