Swathes of Pakistan and neighbouring India have been smothered by high temperatures since April in extreme weather that the World Meteorological Organization has warned is consistent with climate change.
"This year we have jumped from winter right into summer," said PMD chief forecaster Zaheer Ahmad Babar. Sheep have reportedly died from heatstroke and dehydration in the Cholistan Desert of Punjab — Pakistan's most populous province, which also serves as the national breadbasket. Ms Suman Kumari, 19, a student who lives in northwest Delhi, told AFP:"It was so hot today that I felt exhausted and sick while returning from college in a bus. The bus seemed like an oven. With no air conditioning, it was sizzling hot inside," she said.Heatwaves were also predicted in parts of northwest India including areas of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh — collectively home to hundreds of millions of people — over the coming days.