SHIMLA: At least seven persons died in Shimla, two of them of hypothermia after fresh spells of snow and rain in hill states on Wednesday, pushing the minimum temperature several degrees below the normal.
The five others, all carpenters from Bihar and West Bengal, are said to have died of asphyxiation, while sleeping in a room heated with a coal brazier in Chail area.
The bodies were found in the morning by their employer. People continued to battle biting cold in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Shimla recorded a minimum temperature of minus 3.2°C, 6 degrees below normal and the Himachal capital's coldest in six years. The weatherman said the cold conditions were set to intensify further in hill states, with a fresh spell of snow from January 14 onwards.
In the national capital, Wednesday saw the minimum temperature drop to 4°C, three notches below the season's average and the lowest this season.
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