Durgapur, June 4: Seven persons, including two polling personnel and a police constable, died apparently because of heat stroke in Burdwan since last night.

A weather official said the maximum temperature today in Panagarh, 30km from Durgapur, was 46.5 degrees Celsius. This was the highest recorded temperature in Bengal today. Yesterday, the mercury had hit 43.5 degrees Celsius.

Met office officials in Alipore said a heat wave was sweeping across Burdwan.

“Hot winds from the northwestern parts of the country, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand are sweeping across the south Bengal districts. The maximum temperature in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh is hovering around 45 to 47 degrees Celsius. The humidity level has dropped because the monsoon flow is sluggish and there is little moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal,” a Met official said.

Samir Sadhu, 59, a polling officer for the elections to the Durgapur Municipal Corporation yesterday, fell unconscious inside the booth. He came to when his colleagues sprinkled water on his face. “He complained of breathing problems and his heart beat was rapid. He again fell ill while returning home in a bus in the evening. We took him to the Durgapur subdivisional hospital, where he died two hours after admission,” one of his colleagues said.

Another polling personnel, Abdul Jabbar Ansari, 52, died on his way back from duty. He fell ill inside the bus. He was taken to Asansol subdivisional hospital but was declared dead on arrival. Doctors said Kulti resident Ansari, an Eastern Coalfields employee, had died of heat stroke.

Police constable Ashok Chatterjee, 52, who was on leave, fell unconscious while waiting for a bus at a Durgapur terminus around noon. Onlookers sprinkled water on his face but could not revive him. “He was sweating profusely,” an eyewitness said. Chatterjee, a Bankura resident who was posted at Jamuria police station, was declared dead on arrival at Durgapur subdivisional hospital.

“Symptoms indicated that Sadhu and Chatterjee died of heat stroke,” said Debabrata Das, the hospital superintendent.

Sumit Chakraborty, a 45-year-old employee of the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works near Asansol, was found dead in his quarters this morning.

The bodies of two beggars were found on the road in Raniganj and Barkar this morning. Food stall owner Raman Gupta, 30, died in his shop in Burnpur.