Shivering to death in Sialkot

2 people die from severe cold, dozens of birds and cattle also affected.

SIALKOT: Two people, including an old woman died of severe cold in Sialkot on Friday.

According to medical officials, the fog and exceedingly cold weather has caused several cases of pneumonia and chest congestion among locals. Ghulam Hussain (56) and Pasrur resident Bashiran Bibi (79) died of congestion on Friday morning. Bashiran’s grandson said that she had been coughing for the past four days because of the cold and even though she had stayed by a fire all the time she still didn’t manage to survive. Veterinary doctors have said that the weather has also been affecting hundreds of the birds and cattle. Over 33 accounts of cattle having died from the cold have been reported from bordering villages along the 225 kilometre long Sialkot Working Boundary (starting from Chumb Joriyaan Gujrat to Bara Bhai Masroor-Narowal).

“We have had virtually no sun here for the last six days. All trade, business, civic and social activities have come to a stop,” said Sialkot resident Arshad Chaudhary. According to the local MET office, the intense cold is likely to persist for another week.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2011.