1st LD: Death toll in heat wave across India reaches 1,700

The death toll in the heat wave across India in the last one week has risen to 1,700, an official said Friday.

"Most of the deaths have happened in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Some 100 people have died of heat stroke in Telangana in the last 24 hours," he said.

Both the states have been recording around 47 degrees Celsius while the temperature in the Indian capital has been hovering around 45 degrees Celsius, according to weather officials.

Fatalities have also been reported from the western state of Gujarat as well, the official said, adding that most of those who died were homeless people and laborers.

Meanwhile, the weather department forecast that the heat wave will continue till Sunday.

"The heat wave warning has been extended for two more days," Y. K. Reddy, who heads the weather office department in Hyderabad, the capital of both the southern states, told the media.

The government of the both the southern states have urged people not to go out during peak summer hours while health officials have suggested people to drink plenty of fluids before venturing out. Endi