Near freezing cold claimed another seven lives in northern India, raising the death toll from nine weeks of unusually chilly weather to 107, an official and a news report said Saturday. Most of the victims were poor people forced to sleep outside or in public places such as railway stations and parks, protecting themselves with plastic sheets and jute bags, said Surendra Srivastava, a spokesman for the Uttar Pradesh state government. "Six people have frozen to death in Uttar Pradesh state since Friday, bringing the overall death toll to 92," Srivastava told The Associated Press in Lucknow, the state capital. Press Trust of India news agency reported another death in Bhatinda district of northern Punjab state on Friday. The nighttime temperature has dipped to below 1 degrees Celsius (33 Fahrenheit) in Amritsar, a city nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles) north of New Delhi. A total of 15 people have died of cold in northern Punjab and Haryana states since November, PTI said, bringing India's death toll from this year's cold snap to 107.
