Odisha: 20 confirmed dead due to sunstroke

Homeless people are seen resting under a flyover on the banks of river Yamuna to shield themselves from the sun. Pic/PTI

Twenty people died due to sunstroke in Odisha over the last three days as the state was reeling under intense heatwave conditions, an official statement said.

Since Friday, a total of 99 suspected sunstroke deaths were reported by different districts. After post-mortem and inquiry, 20 were confirmed as sunstroke deaths, while two deaths happened due to other causes, said the statement issued by the state's Special Relief Commission.

An investigation is underway in the rest of the cases, it added. Prior to this, 42 suspected sunstroke deaths were reported, and of them six cases were confirmed, and it was found that another six deaths happened due to other causes, the statement said.

The deaths were mostly reported from Bolangir, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Sonepur, Sundergarh and Balasore districts, officials said.

Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena and Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu reviewed the situation with the district collectors on Sunday.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever