At least 89 dead in Pakistan heatwave
The death toll from a week of sweltering heat in Pakistan rose to at least 89 today, as temperatures touched 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and hundreds of people were taken to hospital with sunstroke and dehydration, officials said.
Authorities in eastern province of Punjab reported 21 deaths in the past two days, bringing the number of casualties in the province to 71 in the past week.
At least 13 died in the southern province of Sindh, and at least five in the southwestern province of Baluchistan – but anecdotal accounts from hospitals and relief organisations suggested the toll could be much higher.
A heat wave has claimed about 400 lives in the past two months in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Sahabzad Khan, a meteorologist in the Punjab city of Multan, expected hot conditions to continue for the next two days before temperatures fall next week.
More than 200 people have been treated for heat-related problems at one Multan hospital this week.
Worst-hit has been the Punjab city of Rahim Yar Khan, where temperatures climbed to 48 C (118 F) this week and 1,500 people have needed hospital treatment, said Javed Ashgar, a senior provincial health official.
The highest temperature of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded today in Risalpur, a dusty town in the North West Frontier Province. Authorities, however, did not report any fatalities in the province.
Also, floods caused by increasing water melting from the Himalayan peaks forced hundreds of villagers to evacuate their homes on the banks of the rushing Kabul and Swat rivers near the northwestern city of Peshawar. At least 20 homes were damaged, officials said.
In southern city of Karachi, the Edhi Foundation, a private relief service, has found 15 bodies in the past week – likely victims of the heat – said spokesman Rizwan Edhi.
However, the top provincial health official, Hadi Bukhsh Jatoi, reported only 13 people had died in all of Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital.
In Baluchistan, Gordan Das, a senior doctor at the hospital in the sweltering town of Sibi, said the hospital had received the bodies of five sunstroke victims.
