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Killer cold claims nearly 2000
21/01/2003 23:09 - (SA)
New Delhi - Another 52 people died of cold in India, officials said Tuesday, taking the toll in South Asia to over 1 900 since December as parts of the region remain gripped by the worst winter in 40 years.
For the first time in decades, temperatures have dipped below zero in areas where it is hot and sticky for much of the year.
"The Gangetic plain areas, especially eastern India, have never witnessed a temperature as low as )°," said RK Mukopadhyay, head of the state meteorological department.
The 52 deaths occurred in Bihar, pushing the toll in the impoverished eastern Indian state to 668, local newspapers reported.
The Bihar state administration on Tuesday extended the closure of all schools for the rest of the week, as temperatures plunged to an all-time low of freezing point.
"We had ordered the closure of schools until January 20 but as the cold conditions deteriorated in the state, the closure has been extended to January 25," one official said.
The extreme weather has also affected agriculture.
"Crops of mustard, pulses and green vegetables have been hit by insects and as the sun has not come out, flowers of the crops have failed to bloom to optimum," said Nurul Ahad, an agricultural scientist.
In India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, the killer cold has claimed 436 lives so far, with the mercury dipping to )° for the second time this winter in the main city of Kanpur, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported
Cold-related deaths have also been reported in northern Punjab and Haryana states.
Air traffic
Icy and foggy conditions continued to cause havoc across northern India, with air traffic severely disrupted and trains running up to 20 hours late, weather and transport officials said.
"For the last 48 hours, flights have been able to land only after 14:00 as morning visibility is beyond permissible limits," said an airport official in Patna, the capital of Bihar state.
Flights in the capital were disrupted for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday because of poor visibility at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi international airport, air traffic controllers said.
Air traffic was completely halted for 12 hours on Monday as runway visibility fell to a mere 75m against a minimum requirement of 250m, they said.
Seven domestic and five international flights were diverted on Monday to the cities of Ahmedabad, Bombay and Jaipur to prevent clogging of skies over the national capital, one offical said.
Swirling fog forced state-run railways to suspend as many as 11 trains on Monday, stranding over 8 000 passengers across northern India, he said, adding that services were also running way behind schedule on Tuesday.
"Most trains leading to New Delhi are regularly being cancelled as they are arriving 16-20 hours late," said a spokesperson for Indian railways.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, recorded its lowest temperature this winter of 4.9° on Tuesday as temperatures dropped across the country, a government meteorologist said.
The cold spell, one of the worst for tropical Bangladesh, has killed almost 700 people. There are no official government figures.
Most of the dead have been poor, elderly or young, those least prepared for the frigid weather.
Weather in Nepal brought some cheer on Tuesday as the mercury soared and meteorologists declared that the worst of the cold wave - which has claimed 80 lives in the Himalayan kingdom - was over. - Sapa-AFP
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