5 killed, thousands in hospital as heat wave hits Japan

Tokyo  :  Five people died and over 2,000 people were taken to hospitals due to heat exhaustion or heatstroke as heat wave continued to scorch Japan on Monday, the media reported.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), temperature topped 35 Celsius degrees at 186 of its 927 monitoring points, including areas in Hiroshima and Okayama which have just been hit by a record torrential rain from July 5.

Temperature topped 36 Celsius degrees in some parts of Tokyo, and according to the Tokyo Fire Department, 174 people were sent to hospitals due to the heat.

In the western town of Ibigawa, temperature reached the year's record high of 39.3 Celsius degrees.

A total of five people in the prefectures of Niigata, Aichi, Shizuoka and Mie died from the heat as of Monday night, according to Japan's Kyodo News.

The weather agency warned about heat waves continuing in the week across Japan except in Hokkaido and Okinawa.