NEW DELHI, June 21 – Fifty poor people were found dead in Delhi in a span of 48 hours, with the suspected cause of death being the heatwave prevailing in the region.
Police and hospital officials cited in the Indian media this week have reported a sharp increase in “unnatural” deaths due to high summer temperatures, which on some days touched close to 49 degrees Celsius in May and June.
The dead belonged to “underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds”, according to a PTI news agency report on Wednesday.
Night temperatures have also been unusually high this summer, causing misery to those without access to water air coolers and air-conditioning.
Watchmen, security guards, cycle rickshaw pullers, beggars, and those forced to do hard labour during the daytime face the heightened risk of heatstroke.
The homeless, estimated to be more than 250,000 in Delhi, are particularly vulnerable as they lack even access to safe drinking water, basic meals and a shelter to protect themselves from the searing sun.
The heatwave killed 192 homeless people in Delhi from June 11 to 19, according to the non-governmental group Centre for Holistic Development.
Delhi’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital reported 40 heat-related deaths between June 11 and 18, according to a report on the Hindustan Times newspaper website on Thursday.
The spike in the number of deaths in the last two or three days could be due to extreme heatwave conditions in the city, a hospital official told the Delhi government health department in a letter on Wednesday, the report said.
