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At least 568 people have died over four days in Karachi due to the ongoing lethal heatwaves.
The non-profit Edhi Foundation reports that it usually transports around 30 to 40 people to the Karachi city morgue daily. However, over the last six days, it has collected approximately 568 bodies, with 141 of them on Tuesday alone.
While it is too early to determine the exact cause of death in every case, the rising number of fatalities coincides with temperatures in Karachi soaring above 40°C (104°F), with high humidity making it feel as hot as 49°C, according to reports.
People have been heading to hospitals seeking help. Civil Hospital Karachi admitted 267 people with heatstroke between Sunday and Wednesday, said Dr. Imran Sarwar Sheikh, head of the emergency department. Twelve of them died.
“Most of the people who we saw coming into the hospital were in their 60s or 70s, although there were some around 45 and even a couple in their 20s,” Dr. Sheikh told the BBC. Symptoms included vomiting, diarrhea, and high fever.
The prolonged heatwave has increased pressure on the power grid, leading to outages across the country and depriving people of the little respite that fans and coolers could offer.
The Edhi Foundation noted that many of the bodies they received were from areas experiencing frequent load-shedding.
