The India heatwave in pictures: How locals there are coping as death toll reaches 2,000

The death toll from a major heatwave sweeping India inches close to 2,000 - the highest recorded in at least two decades - and authorities in New Delhi have ordered hospitals to treat heatstroke victims immediately.

May and June are typically the hottest months in India, but the past week has been scorching hot. The highest temperture recorded on Wednesday (May 27) was 47 degrees Celsius in the eastern states of Jharkhand and Odisha.

The searing heat has hit southern India the hardest. So far, more than 1,000 people have died in the state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said.

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have launched a campaign, urging people to stay indoors between 1pm and 4pm - the time when the sun is at its peak - and advising them to wear a cap and loose clothing to prevent heatstrokes, and to drink lots of fluid.

From severely dried-up crops to trucks unloading tons of watermelons, these photographs depict ways locals seek cool comfort to battle the Indian heatwave.

Indian visitors have a snowball fight at a snow park, which generates artificial snow inside a specialised enclosure, at the Maniar Wonderland theme park on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on May 27, 2015. PHOTO: AFP
Men sleep on a temporary shade built over a drain next to a slum on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India, on May 28, 2015.
An Indian man washes his face at a roadside tap during rising temperatures in New Delhi on May 28, 2015. PHOTO: AFP
Boys sit in a plastic container filled with water as they cool themselves next to a borewell at a farmland on a hot summer day on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, May 28, 2015.ufPHOTO: REUTERS

kchitra@sph.com.sg

SOURCES: AFP, CNN, The Guardian, The Indian Express

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