KARACHI: The persistent heatwave in the metropolis claimed around 60 lives in three days.

Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation said on Monday that his charity used to receive around 25 dead bodies every day but it received 160 of all age groups and both genders during the last three days.

“Families of at least 60 victims believe that their loved ones died because of hot weather,” he said.

The Sindh health secretary, however, denied reports that any person died of heatstroke.

Meanwhile, the city experienced yet another very hot day on Monday as the mercury hit the 44 degrees Celsius mark.

Though Monday was the first working day of the week, people preferred to remain indoors while streets and markets wore a deserted look with thin traffic on roads. Loadshedding took place as usual in several parts of the city.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, a Meteorological department official said the minimum temperature recorded in the city was 28°C. He added that the humidity was 17 per cent during the day and 7pc in the evening.

He said the weather in the city was expected to remain hot and dry on Tuesday and the maximum temperature would be around 42°C to 44°C.

The Met department in its heatwave alert issued on Monday said hot to very hot weather was likely to prevail in Karachi till Friday when the maximum temperature would be around 42°C to 44°C.

Cyclone developing

It further said potential cyclonic conditions were developing in the South Arabian Sea which, though did not pose a threat to the city, was being observed closely.

The Met official said the winds blowing from the north-western side (Balochistan) took the temperature up in the entire province.

The hottest place in the province on Monday was Chhor where the maximum temperature reached 46.5°C.

He said some other towns where high temperatures were recorded were: Mithi (46°C); Moenjodaro, Sukkur, Thatta (43.5°C); Badin, Jacobabad, Nawabshah, Rohri (43°C); Mirpurkhas (42.5°C); Dadu (42.4°C); Larkana, Padidan, Sakrand (42°C); and Hyderabad (41.5°C).

Exams postponed

The University of Karachi and the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi have postponed all exams till Thursday and Wednesday respectively in view of the hot weather.

A KU press release said, “The schedule for exams starting from Friday will remain unchanged.” A notification issued by the BIEK said the exams will take place on Thursday as decided earlier.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2018