Heatstroke claims 4 more lives in Odisha, death toll mounts to 30

Bhubaneswar: Four more people lost their lives due to sunstroke in Odisha, taking the death toll to 30 during this summer, an official statement said on Monday.

Altogether 147 cases of suspected sunstroke deaths have been reported during the season so far and of them, 30 were confirmed to be due to heat-related illness. While 20 cases are found to be not due to sunstroke, the remaining 97 cases are under examination, the statement issued by the state's Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said. A total of six suspected sunstroke deaths were reported from various districts since Sunday. After post-mortem and inquiry, four were confirmed as sunstroke deaths.

An investigation is underway in the rest of the cases, it added. Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena and Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu reviewed the situation with the district collectors on Sunday.

The district authorities were asked to ensure post-mortem examination of every suspected sunstroke death for sanction of ex-gratia. Also, a joint inquiry by the local revenue officer and the local medical officer needs to be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of each death, officials said.

On Monday, the day temperature has come down in the state. Only three places recorded a maximum temperature of above 40 degrees Celsius. Those places are Nuapada (41.6 degrees C), Titlagarh (41), and Bolangir (40.4).

In its evening bulletin, the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre said the heat wave conditions would prevail in the districts of Sonepur, Boudh, Bolangir, Bargarh, Nuapada, and Kandhamal on Tuesday.

Similarly, hot and humid weather conditions will be experienced in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Ganjam, and Gajapati districts on June 4, it said.