Pakistan's Karachi fears more deaths amid fresh heatwave

Another heatwave has hit the southern Pakistani city of Karachi with temperatures set to climb to 45 degrees Celsius, officials said on Tuesday, a week after a similar situation killed over 100 people.

Temperatures have risen since Monday night and the cooling winds from the Arabian Sea have stopped, metrological official Shahid Abbas told dpa.

The mercury was set to hit 45 degrees on Wednesday, which would make it the hottest day this summer for the coastal city of more than 20 million people, Abbas said.

More than 100 people died due to heatstroke last week, said Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation, which runs a network of ambulances and several morgues.

No deaths have been reported so far this week, Kazmi said, but he added that the foundation's 34 rescue centres, ambulances and morgues have been put on high alert.

The health department has advised people to stay indoors and avoid exposure to the sun, local official Nasir Durrani said.

There have been high temperatures elsewhere in the country, with 10 cities registering 48 degrees on Monday. The current wave is likely to subside from Thursday night, Abbas said.

Pakistan, sandwiched between the highly industrialised nations of China and India, faces the worst consequences of global warming in the form of frequent heatwaves, floods and land erosion.