More than 450 people have died in a three-day heatwave in southern Pakistan, officials said today, as doctors scrambled to assist victims after a state of emergency was declared in hospitals.
The death toll in worst-hit Karachi, where temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius over the weekend, was at the least 450. Another eight to 10 people died in other parts of southern Sindh province, said Sabir Memon, the province’s senior health official.
“Over the last three days, over 450 people have died from heatstroke,” Memon said.
“Over the last three days, our two mortuaries have so far received over 400 bodies,” said Edhi spokesman Anwar Kazmi. “Funerals have reached capacity.”
Coping with the blazing heat is made tougher by power outages, that are a day by day occurrence in Pakistan.
WATCH: Bodies pile up in Pakistan during heat wave
Power shortages have crippled the water supply system in Karachi, a city of 20 million, hampering the pumping of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to consumers, the state water company said.
The Pakistan Meteorological Office said the temperature in Karachi on Sunday reached 43 degrees Celsius and the temperature within the southwestern city of Turbat, near the border with Iran, reached 49 degrees Celsius.
Semi Jamali, a physician at Karachi’s largest hospital, said she had treated about 3,000 heatstroke patients.
“More than 200 of them were admitted dead or died in hospital,” Jamali said. City authorities reported that one other 67 people died at one other hospital, the Civil Hospital.
Earlier, National Disaster Management (NDMA) spokesperson Ahmed Kamal said the federal government has sought help from the military and paramilitary Rangers within the relief efforts, which can include establishing heat stroke treatment centers across town.
The government of Sindh, the province through which Karachi is positioned, has declared a state of emergency in all hospitals, canceling leaves of doctors and other medical staff and increasing supplies of medical supplies.
Sher Shah, a veteran medical skilled and former president of the Pakistan Medical Association, said Karachi’s poor were most in danger.
More hot and humid weather is forecast over the subsequent 24 hours, although storms forecast for later within the week could bring cooler weather.
Pakistan, where the state religion is Islam, currently observes the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, during which devout Muslims abstain from all foods and drinks through the day. Ramadan began on Friday, coinciding with what will likely be the country’s hottest time of yr.
The deaths got here a month after neighboring India experienced the second deadliest heatwave in its history, killing greater than 2,000 people, probably the most within the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Hundreds of individuals, mostly poor people, die in India yearly in midsummer, but this yr’s death toll was the second highest within the country’s history.
