A homeless man sits under a quilt at an open space on a cold winter morning in the old quarters of Delhi, Jan 3, 2013. — Photo by Reuters
LUCKNOW: More than 100 people died of exposure as northern India dealt with historically cold temperatures, police said.
Police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said Thursday that at least 114 people had died from the cold in the state of Uttar Pradesh. At least 23 of those had died in the past 24 hours.
Srivastava said many of the dead were poor people whose bodies were found on sidewalks or in parks.
The weather department said temperatures in the state were four to 10 degrees Celsius (seven to 18 degrees Fahrenheit) below normal.
Temperatures in New Delhi, which borders Uttar Pradesh, hit a high Wednesday of 9.8 degrees (49.6 Fahrenheit), the lowest maximum temperature in the capital since 1969.