World News
Pakistan heatwave deaths exceed 1 100─── 08:30 Fri, 26 Jun 2015
The death toll from a heatwave in southern Pakistan climbed to 1 100.
Islamabad (DPA) – The death toll from a heatwave in southern Pakistan climbed to 1,100 on Thursday despite a drop in temperature in the worse-hit city of Karachi, officials said, as hospitals, morgues and graveyards struggled to keep pace with the unfolding tragedy.
More than 1,000 people have died in Karachi since the start of Ramadan last week, said Ijaz Afzal, a director at the Health Ministry in the province of Sindh.
On Thursday alone some 200 deaths were reported at hospitals despite a dip in temperatures to 36 degrees Celsius from around 45 Celsius earlier in the week, medics said.
A cool breeze from the Arabian Sea helped lower temperatures from Wednesday evening, said Muhammad Hanif, a director at the Pakistan Metrological Office.
Nearly 80 people died this week in Hyderabad city, which is adjacent to Karachi, said Nafees Qureshi, a district administration official.
Afzal said the toll might rise with more reports coming in to the ministry from hospitals in Karachi and other parts of the province.
The fall in temperatures had eased pressure on hospitals, which were overwhelmed by thousands of patients being driven in by relentless queues of ambulances during the week, said doctor Seemin Jamali.
“Still it is not an easy situation,” said Jamali at the city’s Jinnah Hospital, where at least 8,000 patients with heatstroke were treated in four days. “We have people lying on the floor and in the corridors.”
Other hospitals and dozens of temporary medical camps set up by the military and civilian rescue agencies were also overwhelmed with patients, said Reema Zuberi, spokeswoman for a disaster management agency.
Morgues were at full capacity and bodies were being placed on floors to accommodate the maximum number, said Anwar Kazmi, spokesman for Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest charity which runs a network of mortuaries in Karachi.
“All the men in our community have been busy this week,” said Suhail Ahmed, a gravedigger in Karachi’s Mali Halt area.
“A lot of bodies are coming for burial every day.”
