Since March, India and Pakistan have been boiling.
Temperatures continue to rise and broke records this weekend: up to 46 degrees in New Delhi, and 50 in certain areas of Pakistan.
Photographs taken on site show residents overwhelmed by unbearable temperatures.
Stunned bodies lie under the bridges;
we fight for a square of shade or a few centilitres of water.
And meanwhile, the birds are falling from the sky, half unconscious...
Read alsoIndia helpless in the face of a historic heat wave
A child cools off under a drainpipe.
Ravi Batra/Sipa USA
After school, a child cools off under a drainpipe in New Delhi.
Most of the city's establishments have brought forward the start of the summer holidays, or have gone into distance learning, in order to protect students from the heat wave that is hitting the country.
A child runs on the Yamuna, in New Delhi SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP
The Yamuna is running out.
The river that crosses New Delhi, sacred in India, is reaching critical levels and threatening the capital's water supply.
Water production from the three main sewage treatment plants has fallen by 25%, according to the
Indian Express
newspaper , so access to water could be cut off in parts of the city.
Homeless people under a bridge in New Delhi.
Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP
Homeless people shelter under a bridge in New Delhi, hoping to find some shade and shelter from the heat.
The poorest, for lack of air conditioners, are also the most exposed to the risk of exhaustion and discomfort in the face of high temperatures.
Women collect water in New Delhi Xavier GALIANA
The heat wave caused water shortages in several cities across the country.
Distribution points are organized to provide drinking water to residents, who come to fill cans.
Air conditioners in India.
REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Only 12% of India's 1.4 billion people have access to air conditioning.
This nevertheless caused a record of electricity consumption on a national scale, so much so that the coal reserves melted in a few weeks: the authorities programmed power cuts in the factories to meet demand, and plan to reopen abandoned coal mines.
Workers use their helmets to cool off on a construction site in Ahmedabad.
REUTERS/Amit Dave TPX
Construction workers are particularly at risk.
In India, there are no laws that prohibit outdoor activities above a certain temperature, contrary to what exists for example in certain countries of the Middle East.
A bird lies semi-conscious on a road in Ahmedabad.
SAM PANTHAKY / AFP
Birds are falling from the sky, stunned by the temperatures.
Doctors at a veterinary hospital, run by the NGO Jivdaya Charitable Trust, cared for hundreds of dehydrated and exhausted birds, which fell in mid-flight due to the heat.
Hundreds of people bathe in a canal in Lahore, Pakistan REUTERS/Mohsin Raza ZH/JJ
In Pakistan, the record of 51 degrees Celsius was reached on Friday May 13 in the city of Jacobadad.
This is the highest temperature ever recorded in the northern hemisphere since the beginning of the year.
Temperatures were between 6 and 9 degrees above normal, including 40 degrees reached in the capital, Islamabad.
A patient suffering from heat illness is treated in Jacobabad, Pakistan.
Aamir QURESHI / AFP
There is no total assessment of the number of victims linked to the heat wave.
But the Indian state of Maharashtra has recorded at least 25 deaths since March, and the Indian government recognizes 6,500 victims of heat waves since 2011. A figure largely underestimated, according to scientists.