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Heatwave kills eight in Jinan

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-04 14:36

 

 

A migrant worker is treated in hospital for heatstroke in Jinan city, Shandong province on August 2, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

Continuous high temperatures have cost at least eight outdoor workers' lives in Shandong province during the past three days, the Xinhua news reported Wednesday.

Starting from July 30, the average temperature in Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province, has stayed above 36 Celsius degree. One migrant worker was sent to hospital and died due to working outdoors in the heat too long. Seven similar cases have been reported in three different hospitals in Jinan city.

The bodies of the dead have still not been claimed by relatives.

“Most of them are migrant workers who came to make money on construction sites or private business workshops, and in view of these dead cases, most of them have no relatives to come to claim them,”said one doctor in Jinan Central Hospital.

Co-workers remained tight-lipped about the ordeal but hoped the families of the bereaved would receive compensation from their employers.

Experts have advocated further law enforcement and health protection for disadvantaged groups who have to work in the deadly heat, the report said.