India blisters in heat wave

At least 27 people have died of sunstroke in India's eastern Orissa state, a state official said, taking the heat-related death toll in India to 33 as temperatures soared yesterday.

"We are in a position to confirm 27 deaths at the moment," Manmohan Samal, the state's revenue minister, told AFP Saturday.

Orissa officials said the actual death toll could be as high as 38 since the onset of the hot weather mid-April, with daytime temperatures in the state hovering at 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit).

Sunstroke killed five people overnight in northern Uttar Pradesh state, where the temperature in the crowded city of Jhansi hit 46 degrees Celsius (114.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday, the Press Trust of India said.