LUCKNOW, Dec 31: At least 26 people have died from a cold wave in northern India since the start of winter, with eight killed overnight alone, officials said on Sunday.

“Eight more persons died of cold overnight in different parts of the region. The dead included an elderly couple,” government spokesman Ramesh Mohan Upadhaya said in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

The majority who died from the cold at the weekend were poor and homeless who were exposed to temperatures as low as five degrees Celsius, he added.

“This weather condition is likely to continue for the next 48 hours,” said K.P. Kulshreshtha, head of the regional weather office.—AFP