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WORLD  Indian Heat Wave Kills More Than 1,100 FROM FOXNEWS.COM  INDIA, Jun 4 (VNN) — HYDERABAD, India - (Hindu priests perform rain prayers at the Osmansagar Lake in Gandipet, India. ) Scorching heat has killed more than 1,100 people across India (search )in the past three weeks, relief officials said Monday. Most of those succumbing to soaring temperatures have been in southern Andhra Pradesh (search )state, where at least 1,020 deaths have been reported, said D. C. Roshaiah, the state's relief commissioner. State-run All India Radio put the nationwide toll at about 1,100 dead. In Andhra Pradesh state's Nalgonda district, where at least 204 people have died, temperatures soared up to 120 degrees in some places, said top district administrator Ram Prakash Sisodia. "We are carrying out a publicity campaign to educate people about do's and don'ts to protect themselves from the heat wave," Sisodia said. "We have asked them not to come out into open between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.," Sisodia said. "People have been asked to keep their heads and ears covered with cloth and not to expose themselves to the heat," he said. Lack of monsoon rains have contributed to the problem. On Sunday, some 100,000 Muslims offered special prayers for rain in Hyderabad (search ), the capital of Andhra Pradesh. In another part of the city, more than 5,000 Hindus gathered on the bed of a dried out lake, chanting sacred hymns and prayers from ancient Hindu texts for a reprieve from the blazing heat that has gripped the state. But meteorologists said there would be no relief from the heat wave for another two days in Andhra Pradesh. "Similar heat wave conditions will continue to prevail for at least another 48 hours," said C. V. Bhadram, director of the meteorological center in Hyderabad. Copyright Fox News Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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