More than 100 temperature records last month fell across Vietnam, official data showed, as a deadly heat wave scorches South and Southeast Asia.
Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines in the past few weeks, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain.
Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change would produce more frequent, longer and intense heat waves.
Photo: AFP
Last month, Vietnam endured three waves of high temperatures, National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting data published on Friday showed, with the mercury peaking at 44°C in two towns earlier this week.
The mark is only slightly below the highest temperature ever recorded in Vietnam — 44.2°C on May 7 last year.
In all, 102 weather stations reported record highs last month, as northern and central Vietnam bore the brunt of the heat wave, with temperatures on average 2°C to 4°C higher than during the same period last year.
Seven stations on Tuesday recorded temperatures above 43°C.
The most dramatic sign of the extreme weather hitting Vietnam came in the southern province of Dong Nai, where hundreds of thousands of fish died in a reservoir.
Images showed locals wading and boating through the 300-hectare Song May reservoir, with the water barely visible beneath a blanket of dead fish.
The mass die-off was blamed on water shortages caused by the heat wave and poor management.
The Vietnamese weather agency is predicting more hot weather this month, with temperatures expected to be 1.5°C to 2.5°C higher than in previous years.
While April and May are normally the hottest time of year in Southeast Asia, experts say the El Nino effect is making this year’s heat particularly intense.
Heat records were also broken in Bangladesh and Myanmar last month, while heatstroke has killed at least 30 people in Thailand since the start of the year and high temperatures were partly blamed for a deadly explosion at a Cambodian ammunition dump.
Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines are urging the faithful to pray for rain and lower temperatures, after the heat forced the government to close tens of thousands of schools.
The Indian megacity of Kolkata has sweltered through punishing heat, peaking at 43°C for the city’s hottest single April day since 1954.
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