Heat wave kills 1,017 people in Pakistan's Sindh province

At least 1,017 people have died and hundreds of others have been admitted to different hospitals after suffering from heatstroke and dehydration in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh during the last six days, local media and officials said on Thursday.

According to the reports, at least 955 people died in different hospitals in the southern port city of Karachi, home to over 20 million people and the provincial capital of Sindh.

Another 62 people died in different districts of the province and the death toll may further rise as hundreds of others are still under treatment in hospitals.

Medical superintendent of Karachi's biggest state-run Jinnah Medical Center, Seemi Jamali, said at least 212 deaths have been confirmed at the hospital since Saturday while thousands of others were treated and discharged.

Jamali said the death toll may further rise as a number of patients are still in critical condition who are being treated in the intensive care units of the hospital.

A total of 743 others died at other different hospitals in the city including Jinnah Hospital, Baldia Hospital, Liaquat Hospital, Civil Hospital, National Institute of Cardiology, Ziauddin Hospital and others.

An official from the private-run "Patel Hospital" told media that at least 32 have died or been brought dead in their hospital since Saturday.

Most of the patients were brought to hospital unconscious, suffering from high fever and dehydration.

Karachi was the worst-hit area of the province with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius, the worst during the last one decade. Long hours of power outages and shortage of water also added to the woes of the people.

Federal Minister for Water and Power, Khawaja Asif, on Thursday told the parliament that most of the people that died were aged or manual laborers working under the sunshine.

The Sindh provincial government had announced a public holiday on Wednesday to prevent people from coming out and save electricity to minimize the power outages in the affected areas.

The government has also imposed a state of emergency in all the hospitals in the city.

Pakistan army, Rangers (a paramilitary force) and a number of non-governmental welfare organizations have set up relief camps across Karachi where thousands of people have been treated so far.

A spokesperson of Edhi Foundation, one of Pakistan's largest non-government welfare organizations, said they have adjusted over 600 bodies in their different morgues in recent days.

An official from Pakistan's Met Office on Thursday said the city's temperature has already come below 40 degree Celsius and will reach around 35 degree Celsius within the next 24 hours. Endi