Chandigarh, June 21
Despite a minor drop of one or two degrees in the maximum temperature today, the heat wave continued unabated in the North West region claiming 13 more lives.

Official reports here had reported 13 more deaths due to sun stroke, dehydration or heat wave-related incidents in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh since yesterday. While six deaths were reported from Faridabad, three from Batala,one each was reported from Ludhiana, Bathinda and Talwara township of Hoshiarpur district. The 13th death was reported from Bapu Dham Colony in Chandigarh.

With these deaths, the toll rose to 16 in the region where maximum temperature continued to be above four degrees normal in the major cities and towns of the region. Three deaths had been reported from Bathinda yesterday.

Faridabad: At least six persons succumbed to death due to sun stroke in the district today as the mercury hovered around 44°C Celsius. The total number of deaths on this account have gone up to nine in the district in the past three days.

According to reports, the deceased have been identified as Sarbjit of Anangpur village, Bunty of the Nhar Par area near Old Faridabad, Slammuddin, a labourer from Bihar and Purshottam of Kama village. Two persons, who were found lying unconscious at two different spots in the town, could not be identified. These person were aged about 35 and 50 years.

They were lying near Bata overbridge and a place near the national highway adjacent to Sector - 6 here.

Slamuddin, a labourer who had returned from his native village a couple of days ago, fell unconscious near the NCB Colony here and was found to a victim of sun stroke when taken to a hospital. Two persons identified as Rehman (43) and Alisha (47), residents of Malavgaon village of the Mewat area, also became the victim of the excessive heat. They were found dead near their village and the sun stroke is stated to the main cause of their death.

Three persons were found dead due to sun stroke in the city yesterday. One of these could not be identified. Monday had been the hottest day of the season in the district with the day temperature rising above 45° Celsius. The erratic power supply has added to the woes of the residents.

Bathinda: Heat wave today claimed another life in the city, while four others were rushed to the Civil Hospital after they fell unconscious due to hot weather conditions.

Sources said a youth fell unconscious on the Dhobiana road. Sahara Janseva volunteers rushed to his aid, but he was declared “brought dead” on reaching the hospital. The body of the deceased, Rajinder Kumar, was then sent to his home. Sahara volunteers also admitted Pala Singh to the hospital. He was lying unconscious on the Bathinda-Malout road.

Inder Dev was rushed to the hospital from the railway station in a serious condition. Sewa Das fell unconscious near Haji Ratan Gate, while the condition of a passenger, Jagdish Giri, in a bus arriving from Bikaner turned serious. The latter was admitted to the emergency ward in the Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, the day temperature in Hisar, Amritsar, Ambala, Jammu, Ludhiana and Una that had touched the 45° Celsius mark registered a slight decline today. However there was still no respite from the heat wave and the people preferred to remain indoors in the afternoon.

Hisar in Haryana continued to be the hottest place in the region at 45.2°C registering a decline of one degree.

In Chandigarh, the residents got no relief despite a drop of one degree in the mercury from 44.4°C yesterday.

In Ambala, the mercury dropped to 43.6 degrees from 45.3 degrees yesterday while in Karnal the temperature remained more or less the same at 43.2 degrees.

Amritsar continued to remain the hottest place in Punjab at 44.2 degrees, a drop of 1.2 degrees. Ludhiana recorded a high of 43.2, a drop of two degrees while Patiala settled at 42.6, down by two degrees.

Warm weather conditions continued to prevail in Himachal Pradesh with Sundernagar in Mandi district recording a maximum of 41.3 degrees followed by Bhuntar in Kulu recording 38.4 degrees, five degrees above normal. The maximum in of Shimla remained more or less static at 30 degrees, six degrees above normal.