10 freeze to death in a week in Delhi

After a short reprieve for a few days, fog made a swift comeback in the Capital on Wednesday.

After a short reprieve for a few days, fog made a swift comeback in the Capital on Wednesday.

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In the past week, at least 10 homeless persons have died of suspected hypothermia — when the body attains below normal temperature.

As the visibility dipped to 300 metres on Wednesday morning, the chill also set in for the entire day. The sky remained overcast and the mercury remained capped between 8 and 16 degrees Celsius—five degrees below normal.

The Met is expecting very dense fog on Thursday.

“Very dense fog is likely to affect flight and other transport operations in the next two days,” said R.K. Jenamani, director of the IGI airport unit of the Met department. “The chill is going to increase and we expect even day temperatures to remain below the normal mark.”

With the cold, problems such as power cuts also made a comeback. “There was no power for about 10 hours since morning in most South Delhi areas,” said Pankaj Aggarwal, general secretary of RWAs Joint Front.

Power companies gave mixed reasons. “A small area in Safdarjung Enclave had local faults for about two hours. There was also increased demand, leading to tripping of a few lines,” said a BSES spokesman.