Lal Shahbaz urs: Sehwan heat wave leaves 53 dead in 4 days

Local administration had claimed they would provide pilgrims with cold water but this has not been done yet.

SEHWAN: For a fourth consecutive day, severe temperatures continued to take the lives of the devotees of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, as the death toll rose to 53 on Thursday, Express News reported.

The local administration had claimed that they would provide the pilgrims with cold water and make other necessary arrangements for them. However, Express News reports that this has not been done.

Hundreds of thousands of people, mainly from the Punjab and Sindh, visit the small town of Sehwan during the urs celebrations of the Sufi saint. The 762nd urs has attracted between 500,000 to 600,000 visitors according to unofficial estimates.

At least 12 people had died on Wednesday, according to the medical superintendent of Sehwan taluka hospital, Dr Moinuddin Siddiqi who said that all of the victims, except one, had died due to heat stroke. The mercury had peaked at 46 degrees centigrade. The Met office has forecasted the temperatures to remain as high for the next few days.