A young Indian child plays under a water pipe in New Delhi. The
unrelenting heat is persisting in the Indian capital as temperatures
reached 41 degrees Celsius with weathermen forecasting a severe heatwave
across the plains of northern India.

by Staff Writers
Bhubaneswar, India (AFP) June 25, 2009

An acute heatwave roasting much of India has claimed at least 100 lives,
with more deaths feared because the annual monsoon rains have yet to
come, officials said Thursday.

In the eastern state of Orissa, at least 58 people have died due to
sunstroke since April, disaster management official Durgesh Nandini
Sahoo told AFP in the state capital Bhubaneswar.

Local newspapers have reported at least 12 deaths in the impoverished
northern state of Bihar, and 17 deaths in neighbouring Jharkhand state.

The Press Trust of India has reported 18 deaths in the northern state of
Uttar Pradesh, and six more in the south-central state of Andhra
Pradesh. In the eastern state of Chhattisgarh authorities have ordered
schools to shut.

Indians have been watching the skies anxiously after the monsoon failed
to appear two weeks ago, prompting concerns about the impact on
agriculture and water supplies as lakes run dry after a long, hot summer.

In the capital New Delhi temperatures over the past week have touched 48
degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit).

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