India: 11 people died of heatstroke after attending an outdoor event in Mumbai
At least 11 people have died in India after attending an outdoor ceremony organised by a minister on Sunday near Mumbai amid temperatures of 38 degrees, reports Times of India, quoted by digi24.ro.
Around 600 people were treated on the spot for sunstroke and around 50 people were hospitalised suffering from sunstroke and dehydration. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the open-air ceremony where Home Minister Amit Shah honoured several social activists on the outskirts of Mumbai.
People stood for five hours in the sweltering heat.
Eknath Sambhaji Shinde, chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra, which has its capital in Mumbai, demanded that the tragedy should not be used for political purposes.
"This is a painful and unfortunate incident. Many people came to the ceremony and everything was going well but in the end this happened. I don't want to politicise this incident. I want to help those who need treatment," he said.
But Rajeev Mishra, a human rights activist, says "the deaths were caused by the poor organisation of the government".
