Two deaths amid heat wave in south India, says media report

NEW DELHI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Two people died in India's southern state of Kerala reportedly due to the prevailing heat wave conditions with the mercury hitting 42 degrees Celsius, about 5 degrees Celsius above normal during this time of year.

According to an India Today report on Sunday, the two people died of sunstroke because of the extreme heat wave.

One of the deceased was identified as a 90-year-old woman, and the other a 53-year-old man. Officially it was not yet confirmed if the deaths occurred as a result of heatstroke.

"The real cause of death shall be known after conducting the due medical processes," said senior official at the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) Sekhar Lukose Kuriakose.

Speaking to Xinhua over phone, Kuriakose added, "Postmortem on both the deceased persons has been done. The final reports are awaited. We will confirm deaths due to heatstroke only after we receive the postmortem reports. It might take a day or two."

Entire south India, including the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the eastern state of Odisha were suffering heat wave conditions in the past few days.

Meanwhile, on Monday the KSDMA said that thunderstorm with light-to-moderate rainfall and gusty winds with speed up to 40 km per hour is likely to hit several places in Kerala's districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam.