Bangladesh heatwave kills 47

2004-05-13 20:28

Dhaka - A heatwave sweeping Bangladesh killed at least 47 people and caused thousands others to fall ill in sun-scorched villages across the country this month, newspaper reports said on Thursday.

The latest to die were five farmers who had succumbed to heat strokes in central Magura district in the past three days, the daily Bangladesh Observer reported.

Day temperatures shot up to 41° in central and northern Bangladesh as the steamy tropical summer forced many to stay indoors.

With the death of the farmers, the number of people who have died from heat related illnesses in the past two weeks rose to 47.

The total figure of heat wave casualties included 25 people who died of diarrhoea and other intestinal diseases in southern Noakhali district caused by bacteria in contaminated water, the daily Ittefaq reported, quoting a local government doctor.

The vernacular newspaper report said hospitals treated thousands of cases of water borne diseases including many elderly and young children.

We have admitted hundreds of patients suffering from acute dehydration and viral fever in the past one week," said doctor Shahadat Hossain of the international Cholera Hospital in the capital Dhaka.

Tents set up on the hospitals lawns are accommodating an extra 400 patients from neighbourhoods of Dhaka which are facing severe water shortages due to wells drying up in the sizzling summer.

The heat is likely to continue till the weekend when cloudbursts and thunderstorms are expected, the weather office said. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA