One more sunstroke casualty was reported today in Odisha taking the official toll to 17 as several parts of the country continued to reel under heat wave with Sriganganagar in Rajasthan scorching at 45.8 degrees Celsius.
The victim in in Odisha hailed from Balasore. The number of deaths suspected to be from heat stroke, however, increased to 174 from 171 yesterday, the Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office in that state said.
Officials said out of the 174 deaths, 92 have been probed in which it was found that 75 died of other reasons. Rest 82 cases are still to be examined.
The mercury continued to rise with Sambalpur scorching at 42.2 degrees Celsius while Titlagarh recorded 42 degrees Celsius, the MeT office in Bhubaneswar said.
In Rajasthan, mercury remained on the upward side where Sriganganagar was the hottest place at 45.8 degrees Celsius followed by Bikaner which sizzled at 45.2 degrees Celsius.
Churu, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Ajmer, Kota and Jaipur recorded maximum of 44.8, 43.9, 43, 42.8, 42.6 and 41.8 degree Celsius respectively.
In Uttar Pradesh and Haryana too, mercury hovered over 42 degree Celsius mark causing discomfort to people. While Allahabad recorded 42.8 degrees Celsius, Hisar sizzled at 42 degrees Celsius. Varanasi recorded 41.7 degrees Celsius while capital Lucknow posted 39.5 degrees Celsius.
It was a relatively hot day in the national capital with the maximum temperature settling at 38.7 degrees Celsius while the humidity level in air oscillated between 35 and 63 per cent.
In the west, Vadodra recored over 40 degrees Celsius while in the east, Jamshedpur and Patna both stood at 39 degrees Celsius and Ranchi posted 38.6 degrees Celsius.
West Bengal too faced a relatively pleasant weather with capital Kolkata registering 37 degrees Celsius. Bankura recored the highest at 39.7 degrees Celsius followed by Sriniketan posting 38.1 degrees Celsius.
In south, Hyderabad, which has received rains lately, recorded 38.6 degrees Celsius and Chennai and Thiruvanathapuram posted 37 and 33.7 degrees Celsius respectively.
