Nearly 200 people have died of sunstroke and dehydration in India as high temperatures sweep many parts of the country, government officials said on Sunday. The eastern state of Orissa was worst affected, with officials there confirming at least 75 deaths in the last six weeks. Unofficial reports put the toll at more than 300. Temperatures soared above 50 degrees Celsius in Talcher in the state's Angul district at the weekend and reached above 40 degrees Celsius in most other areas. The neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh was also reeling under a heat wave. Local government officials said more than 50 people had died in the state in the past month, while unofficial estimates put the toll at above 200. About 70 people have died in scorching heat in India's most populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh in the last two weeks, officials said. Mercury levels remained above 46 degrees Celsius across the state's vast Indo-Gangetic plain. "This is one of the hottest summers in Uttar Pradesh over the past 100 years," R.K. Verma, meteorological director in Lucknow, the state capital, told Reuters.
