Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The unprecedented heatwave in India has claimed over 45 lives in the past 36 hours. With this, the death toll due to heatwave across the country has reached 87.
As many as 19 more people died of heatstroke in western Odisha, 16 in Uttar Pradesh in a single day, while five succumbed to the high temperatures in Bihar, four in Rajasthan, and one in Punjab in one day.
On May 31, India reported at least 40 suspected heat-related deaths, 25 of them of staff deployed on Lok Sabha elections duty in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as heatwave conditions gripped a large swathe of the country. According to officials, heat-related deaths were reported from Odisha (10), Bihar (8), Jharkhand (4) and Uttar Pradesh (1) on May 31. Rajasthan has reported at least five heat-related deaths so far.
In Odisha, as many as 19 deaths occurred on May 30 and 31, taking the death toll over the past 48 hours to 29.
Of the 29 deaths, 12 were reported from Sundargarh and nine from Jharsuguda. Sambalpur reported seven deaths, while another person died in Bargarh. Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahu said all these deaths are being investigated to check whether heatstroke was the cause.
