South Asia

Students in east India faint as temperatures soar amid heatwave

NEW DELHI — At least six students in Sheikhpura, a town in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, were rushed to a hospital after fainting due to extreme temperatures, local media reported on Wednesday.

Video footage showed students crowding around a classmate who had fainted at a school in Sheikhpura, while teachers fanned her with plastic files.

“Due to extreme heat and rising temperatures, the students are facing difficulties. There is an electrolyte imbalance which is making the students faint, vomit, or feel dizzy,” said Dr. Rajnikanth Kumar.

Similar scenes unfolded in Begusarai, another town in Bihar, where more than a dozen students fainted from the scorching heat.

India has been grappling with unusually high temperatures this summer. The weather department has forecast ‘heat wave to severe heat wave’ conditions to persist in several parts of the country, including the capital, through Wednesday.