28 more die of intense heat

ISLAMABAD: The heatwave across Pakistan has killed about 175 people over the past eight days, but some areas have had relief from the blistering temperatures, officials said on Monday.

Punjab was the worst hit with about 120 people dying and many suffering ill effects of the extreme heat, a provincial health official said. “There have been lot of cases of heatstroke and dehydration reported from the 6,000 hospitals and health units we have in the province,” a Punjab health official said.

Health officials in Sindh said there had been about 10 deaths over the past 24 hours taking the province’s toll of fatalities due to the heat to about 55. The highest temperature recorded during the heatwave was in Jacobabad, which saw the mercury hit 52 degrees Celsius last Friday, a provincial official said.

A weather official said temperatures had eased in about a third of the area hit by the heatwave, but the high temperatures would persist elsewhere for at least another two days. June and July are traditionally the hottest months before seasonal rains cools things off a bit before the mild autumn.

Hot weather in neighbouring Afghanistan had melted snow across the Hindu Kush mountains, swelling rivers there and in the NWFP where about 300 families have been forced from their homes by floods, a military official said.

The army has been helping victims of the floods caused by Kabul and Swat Rivers bursting their banks.

Another 13 people died in southern Punjab on Monday including one in Multan, three in Chiniot, three in Burewala, three in Sargodha and three in Fort Abbas. However, temperatures in southern Punjab had come down, with Multan at 43.5 degrees Celsius and Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan at 45 degrees Celsius each.

Five people including a woman died and many fell unconscious due to the heat in Chichawatni tehsil on Monday. Also, three people including two women died of the heat in the Mandi Bahauddin area and its suburbs on Monday. The heat also killed at least seven people in Faisalabad.

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