At least 31 people have died as a searing heatwave brought temperatures of nearly 47ºC to central Pakistan, officials said on Monday.
The hot spell comes amid a warning from the country’s top meteorologist that Pakistan faces a possible drought with no significant rain expected in the next two months.
The capital Islamabad was hit by a dust storm on Monday while streets in the central city of Multan in Punjab province were deserted as the high temperatures kept residents indoors.
”We have received reports here that 31 people have died in the heatwave during last three days,” Amir Salman, a spokesperson for Punjab’s health department, told Agence France-Presse.
Health officials from a number of dustbowl districts in the south of the province gave a toll of 33. They said 17 died at the weekend and another 16 in the past 24 hours.
”We are receiving a number of heat-stricken people daily in the emergency ward,” said Laiq Hussain Siddiqui, a doctor at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital.
Temperatures hit 46,8ºC in the Bahawalnagar and Dera Ghazi Khan districts of Punjab and more hot and dry weather is forecast for the next two or three days, the Meteorological department said.
Fifty-three people have died from blistering heat in neighbouring India.
Last year a heatwave killed some 200 people in Pakistan. — AFP
