At least 10 people died of heatstroke in Bangladesh during the past week as the South Asian country wilts amid the longest heatwave in 75 years, the government said on Tuesday.
Three of them died on Monday, after the others died since the heatwave began on April 22, Salim Rayhan, an official at the office of the Directorate General of the Health Services, told dpa, after reports on heatwave-related deaths from across the nation.
Five other people suffering from heatstroke are being treated in hospitals, he added.
Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department said the country is facing its longest-ever heatwave, dating it back to March 31. The hot spell may continue until Tuesday, according to its latest forecast.
If the maximum temperature in a particular place remains above 36 degrees Celsius, meteorologists call this a heatwave.
Meteorologist Shaheenul Islam said this year’s hot spell is the longest since records began in 1948. So far, the season’s highest temperature was 43 degrees, recorded in the Chuadnaga district on Monday. That day, the temperature in Dhaka soared to 40.5 degrees.
The poor are bearing the brunt of the heat, as most people otherwise remain indoors.
“It is tough to pull a rickshaw in such sweltering sun,” said Aminur Rahman, who supports a family of five by peddling a rickshaw in Dhaka’s Khilgaon neighbourhood.
These days, he said, he only operates the rickshaw for two hours a day, compared to his usual working day of nine hours.