Other States - Orissa

Heat wave toll goes up to 28

BHUBANESWAR: As heat wave conditions continued to prevail in the interior districts of the State during the day, the death toll due to sunstroke in the State increased to 28 on Saturday.

According to an official manning the control room set up by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department here, a total 113 deaths, allegedly due to sunstroke, had been reported from different parts of the State so far.

While 28 deaths due to sunstroke had been officially confirmed, the authorities in the districts concerned had given reports showing that 61 of the total 113 deaths occurred due to other reasons.

Verification reports with regard to the remaining 24 alleged sunstroke deaths were awaited from different districts, the official said.

Of the 28 sunstroke deaths confirmed so far, five each had been reported from Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal and Khurda districts and four had been reported from Angul.

Besides, two deaths each had been recorded in Jajpur, Puri and Sambalpur and one each in Balasore, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj.

The interior districts that continued to experience maximum day temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius include Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Bolangir.

The situation in the coastal belt, however, had improved a bit due to thunderstorm and rain during the past few days.

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