See Images of Indians Trying to Cope With the Country's Deadly Heat Wave

  • Indian fishermen catch fish in a shrunken pond in the village of Phaphamau on the outskirts of Allahabad on May 26, 2015.
    Sanjay Kanojia—AFP/Getty Images
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  • A rickshaw puller rests on a hot summer day in Kolkata, India on May 27, 2015.
    Bikas Das—AP
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  • Road markings appear distorted as the asphalt starts to melt due to the high temperature in New Delhi on May 27, 2015.
    Harish Tyagi—EPA
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  • A rickshaw puller rests under the shade of an overhead bridge on a hot summer day in Hyderabad, India on May 25, 2015.
    Mahesh Kumar A.—AP
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  • A laborer cools off under a water tap on a hot afternoon in Amritsar, India on May 26, 2015.
    Raminder Pal Singh—EPA
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  • A boy jumps into a step well built inside the shrine of Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi on May 24, 2015.
    Adnan Abidi—Reuters
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  • A youth frolics in the Sabarmati river as he cools himself off on a hot afternoon in Ahmedabad, India on May 26, 2015.
    Divyakant Solanki—EPA
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By Nikhil Kumar / New Delhi

More than 1,800 people have died as a severe heat wave persists across India.

The southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh has been the worst affected, with more than 1,300 people succumbing to the blistering heat that has driven temperatures as high as 117 degrees fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius) in parts of the country.

“Our wards are completely full,” J V Subbarao, medical officer at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Medical Sciences in Andhra Pradesh, told the AFP news agency. “I have worked as a medical officer in this district for 40 years and I have never seen anything like this, with so many people arriving already dead.”

As the death toll rises, the country is bracing itself for a continuation of the extreme conditions, with forecasters expecting temperatures to remain high for several more days. In the meantime, ordinary people must try and keep cool in any way they can.

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