At least 15 dead in east India over 24 hours as temperatures soar

At least 15 people have died of suspected heatstroke in India's eastern states of Bihar and Odisha on Thursday (May 30), authorities said, with the region gripped in a debilitating heatwave expected to continue until Saturday (June 2), Reuters reports.

 

India has been experiencing a blisteringly hot summer and a part of capital Delhi recorded the country's highest ever temperature at 52.9 degrees Celsius (127.2 degrees Fahrenheit) this week, though that may be revised with the weather department checking the sensors of the weather station that registered the reading.

 

While temperatures in northwestern and central India are expected to fall in the coming days, the prevailing heatwave over east India is likely to continue for two days, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which declares a heatwave when the temperature is 4.5 to 6.4 degrees Celsius higher than normal.

 

The deaths of 10 people were reported in the government hospital in Odisha's Rourkela region on Thursday, authorities told Reuters, while five deaths were reported in Bihar's Aurangabad city due to "sunstroke".