Pakistan heatwave kills more than 200 in Karachi as electricity grid crashes
Karachi is worst hit as temperatures soar to 45 degrees Celsius, with power outages making it harder for residents to cope with heatwave.
More than 200 people have died in a heatwave in southern Pakistan, officials said yesterday, as the government called in the army to help tackle widespread heatstroke in Karachi.
The death toll in Karachi, the country's largest city, where temperatures hit 45 degrees Celsius at the weekend, is at least 202 with more deaths being reported - although not confirmed - in other parts of the country.
"The death toll from the heatwave has crossed the figure of 200 in Karachi as we have confirmed casualties of 140 in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and 62 from Civil Hospital Karachi," the provincial health minister Jam Mehtab Dehar said.
He said the true figure could be much higher, as the toll excluded other hospitals and deaths yet to be recorded elsewhere. Doctors say most of those who have died succumbed to heatstroke.
Watch: Heatwave kills hundreds in Pakistan
National Disaster Management (NDMA) spokesman Ahmed Kamal said the government had asked the army and paramilitary Rangers to help relief efforts which would include setting up heatstroke treatment centres around the city.