Northern India shivers as cold wave continues

Indian train passengers wrapped in warm clothes wait on a platform of a railway station in New Delhi yesterday. India's capital continued to reel under intense cold conditions with the minimum temperature remaining below two degrees Celsius for the second consecutive day. PHOTO: AFP

Residents of New Delhi, who experienced the coldest day in 70 years Sunday with the minimum temperature at 0.2 degrees Celsius (32.36 degrees Fahrenheit), found little respite Monday.

The temperature was a slightly warmer 1.4 degrees Celsius overnight but freezing winds kept most people shivering and huddled around electric heaters or bonfires.

The city's estimated 150,000 homeless face even more misery as the weather office has warned the big chill will continue.

The northern provinces of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have all been gripped by the cold wave, weather office officials said, with the number of deaths linked directly to the cold nearing 150.