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 1).
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), declaring a heatwave when the temperature is 4.5ºC to 6.4ºC higher than normal.
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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”.
“About seven more people died on their way to the hospital yesterday but the exact cause of their death will be known after the autopsy,” Aurangabad District Collector Shrikant Shastree told Reuters.
Three people died of suspected heatstroke in Jharkhand state, neighbouring Bihar, local media reported.
Delhi, where the temperature is expected to touch 43ºC on Friday, recorded its first heat-related death this week and is facing an acute water shortage.
While heat is affecting some of the country, the northeastern states of Manipur and Assam have been battered by heavy rainfall after Cyclone Remal, with several areas inundated on Friday.
Monsoon rains also hit the coast of the country’s southernmost Kerala state on Thursday, two days earlier than expected.