South Asia News
Death toll tops 100 as India cold wave endures
Jan 8, 2011, 12:20 GMT
New Delhi - More than 100 people have died as a cold wave intensified its grip over northern and eastern parts of India, officials and news reports said Saturday.
The northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which has been the worst hit, has seen 22 new deaths since Wednesday, taking the death toll from a fortnight of cold weather to 63, according to figures released by the state government.
Most victims were either elderly or poor, with inadequate shelter and warm clothing, state officials said.
The town of Churk was the coldest place in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, recording a low temperature of 1.4 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, more deaths were also blamed on freezing temperatures in the eastern state of Jharkhand, increasing the death toll there to 62, the IANS news agency reported.
The capital New Delhi and the Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have also experienced cold weather, leaving more than a dozen people dead there, according to local news channels.
Thick fog also engulfed many areas of the South Asian country on Tuesday, causing lengthy delays and cancellations of flights and trains in Delhi.
Weather bureau officials said the cold weather is likely to persist over the next few days in most northern states, including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
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