Coonoor: Three senior citizens from the Nilgiri hills who were on a tour of Varanasi and other parts of Uttar Pradesh reportedly died due to the intense heat wave in UP. They were among a group of tourists who were heading home by train from Agra when they succumbed to the heat inside the train.
According to the police here, the deceased include V. Subbiah Naidu (86), a retired sub-collector from Ottupattrai area in Coonoor and his nephew son R. Balakrishnan (69), a retired education department staff also residing in the same area.
They were part of a 68-member group of tourists, which included seven persons from the Nilgiri hills, visiting religious and other places of interest in UP. On Mon-day, the group boarded the Kerala Express at Agra. When the train was approaching Jhansi station, R. Balakrishnan was found dead inside the moving train.
Subbiah Naidu, had also fainted inside the coach, and was rushed to a hospital but died there, sources said.
J Innocent Divya, Collector of Nilgiris, said that according to the information reaching her on Tuesday evening, another member of the group, Kappa Gowder (80), hailing from Kollimalai village near here, too died due to the intense heat wave. In all, three persons used to the cooler climate of the Nilgiri hills died after being exposed to the intense heat of the plains, she added.
V Sriram, son of Subbiah Naidu, said that the group began its pilgrimage tour on June 2. After visiting Varanasi and other places, they reached Agra on Sunday.
“My father spoke to me on Sunday evening when he was in Agra after visiting the Taj Mahal.
He said that he would come and narrate the tour experiences after reaching home. But, unfortunately tragedy struck him,” Mr Sriram said.
Meanwhile, several parts of the country continued to reel under sweltering heat with mercury crossing the 45-degree mark.
The maximum temperature hovered close to 45 degrees Celsius at most places in Punjab and Haryana.
Hisar in Haryana and Patiala in Punjab sizzled at 45.5 degrees Celsius, a MeT official told this newspaper.
