Cold wave kills 26 in northern India

At least 26 people have died so far this year as cold waves intensified across northern India, including the national capital where air and rail services are affected, said meteorological officials on Monday. Most of these deaths have been reported from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where six people lost their lives on Sunday night. Meerut, a city about 100 km north of Delhi, was the coldest place, recording a low of 2.2 degrees Celsius. Not only the cold wave have intensified in the past 24 hours, fog also tightened its grip over the national capital which has witnessed a minimum temperature of five degrees Celsius, three notches below normal. Moreover, air and rail services have been affected in the national capital where at least 14 flights were delayed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and some 30 trains have been rescheduled.