Hot winds hit North India, many killed
Hot and dusty desert winds have caused a heatwave across the plains of northern India, killing 74 people over the last week.
Most of the dead were beggars, homeless and people working in the open hit by sunstrokes and dehydration.
Temperatures peaked on Saturday, reaching 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) in Ganganagar in Rajasthan, According to S.C. Bhan, director at the Regional Meteorological Centre in New Delhi.
“It is a heatwave. After the next two days it will be over,” Bhan said, adding that it was caused by winds from the Thar desert, which spreads from Rajasthan into neighbouring Pakistan.
In New Delhi, the mercury touched a season high of 44.9 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) on Saturday, Bhan said.
People dozed the afternoon away under trees and on shady pavements while those at home stayed close to their air-conditioners when there were no power cuts — a frequent occurrence over the weekend.