More than sixty dead in Indian heatwave.

More than sixty people have died in a heatwave affecting northern and central India this week. Sustained temperatures in excess of 45°C have been recorded across much of the region, with some areas experiencing peaks in excess of 50°C, although a record-breaking 52.9°C temperature recorded in Delhi on Wednesday 29 May 2024 has now been confirmed to have been erroneous; the correct temperature should have been a comparatively 'mild' 49.9°C.

A patient being treated for heatstroke in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State, this week. Reuters.

At least 23 of the people who have died are reported to have been election officials, obliged to remain at their posts, often outdoors in direct sunlight, throughout the day while polls are carried out. In Odisha State twenty-six people have died of suspected heat-related conditions, many of them truck-drivers who remained in hot vehicles. In Bihar State fourteen people are reported to have died of heat-related conditions, including ten polling officials. In Uttar Pradesh thirteen people have died of heat related conditions. Eight people have been confirmed to have died of heat-related conditions in Jharkhand, with more than 1300 others hospitalised. Four people are reported to have died of heat-related conditions in Rajasthan. 

Residents of Delhi queueing to collect water from a tanker this week. Getty Images.

Many areas of India, including Delhi are also suffering from extreme water-shortages at the moment, hampering people's efforts to keep hydrated in the extreme heat. The combination of extreme heat and drought has led to forest fires raging across parts of northern India and neighbouring Pakistan (where temperatures in excess of 52°C have been recorded in several places this week). The monsoon rains are reported to have arrived in Kerala on Friday 31 May, which may bring some relief to central parts of the country, though the heatwave in the north is predicted to continue for another week. This year's monsoon is also expected to be particularly severe, driven by the high temperatures, and will likely bring a new set of problems.

A forest fire in Uttarakhand on Wednesday 29 May 2024. Press Trust of India.

The high temperatures experienced in the past year have been linked to a combination of anthropogenic global warming, driven by emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, with an El Niño - Southern Oscillation climate system over the Pacific Ocean, a natural phenomenon which also tends to drive temperatures upwards. However, the El Niño system appears to have been weakening over the past months, with sea surface temperatures over the eastern equatorial Pacific actually being lower than the average for 1990-2020, while global temperatures have continued to rise, suggesting that the El Niño system may be playing as large a role in driving this year's high temperatures as previously assumed.

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Smoking sinkhole kills two in Jharkhand, India.

Two people have died after a smoking sinkhole opened up in the town of Jharia in Dhanbad District in Jharkand State, India earlier this week. Fourteen-year-old Rahim Khan was sweeping the pavement outside his fathers shop when the ground collapsed beneath him sucking him in. His father, Bablu Khan, 40, jumped into the hole in an attempt to save him, but was also swallowed by the hole.A team of rescuers from dug down into the hole in an attempt to recover the two missing people, but was forced to abandon the effort after 28 hours when they encountered a smoke-filled chamber with temperatures in excess of 80°C.

The scene of the June 2017 Jharia sinkhole. Newslions.

Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.

Attempts to dig out the June 2017 Jharia sinkhole. Newslions.

On this occasion the sinkhole has been linked to a fire that has been burning in an abandoned coal mine beneath the town for over a hundred years. Underground fires can burn at a low level for very long periods of time. Where oxygen is limited but available the fuel is not consumed rapidly as in a fire at the surface, and as long as the oxygen remains available it will continue to survive. A coal fire which started at Planitz in Germany in 1476 was not extinguished until 1860, while a fire at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga has been burning since 1953 and one in Columbia County, Pennsylvania since 1962. A fire at Burning Mountain, Australia is thought to have been burning for about 6000 years. The fires at Jharia have been linked to a number of sinkholes in the area, some of them very large, including one in 1997 that swallowed about 250 homes over a period of a few hours. These fires also produce toxic fumes, such as sulphur dioxide, and carbon monoxide, which have an adverse effect on the health of people living in the area.

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Rescue operation underway after collapse at Indian coal mine.

The bodies on nine workers have been recovered and another 23 are missing following the collapse of a wall during active excavation at an open cast coal mine at Rajmahal in Jharkhand State, India, on Thursday 29 December 2016. A further four miners have been pulled out of the debris alive, one of whom is described as being in a serious condition. The incident is reported to have happened at about 8.30 pm local time, during a shift change at the pit, when a wall of soil and rock collapsed onto workers and vehicles inside the mine area.

A partially buried vehicle following the 29 December 2016 Rajmahal mine collapse. Press Trust of India.

The incident happened at the Latmatia Mine, which is operated by Eastern Coalfields Ltd, however the rescue operation is being led by Coal India, in coordination with local police, workers from the National Disaster Management Authority, and a specialist mine rescue team sent by the National Disaster Response Force from Patna. An investigation into the incident is being led by a team sent by the Director General of Mines Safety.

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