Elderly, poor suffer most as heat wave toll hits 780

Pakistan's financial capital of Karachi is wilting in a four-day heat wave that has killed more than 780 people, a health charity said on Wednesday, as the government declared a holiday in the city to encourage people to stay home and cool off.

The heat wave has coincided with severe electricity outages. Many of the deaths among the elderly and poor in the southern city were caused by dehydration.

"The heat wave death toll has reached close to the 800 mark in the last four days," Anwar Kazmi, a senior official of the private charity, the Edhi Foundation, said.