Thousands in heatwave-hit Bangladesh pray for rain

Thousands of Bangladeshis have gathered to pray for rain in the middle of an extreme heatwave that prompted authorities to shut down schools around the country.

Muslim worshippers gathered in city mosques and rural fields on Wednesday to pray for relief from the scorching heat, which forecasters expect to continue for at least another week.

Extensive scientific research has found climate crisis is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

Bangladesh's weather bureau says that average maximum temperatures in the capital Dhaka over the past week have been 4-5 degrees Celsius (39-41 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 30-year average for the same period.

"Praying for rains is a tradition of our prophet. We repented for our sins and prayed for his blessings for rains," Muhammad Abu Yusuf, an Islamic cleric who led a morning prayer service for 1,000 people in central Dhaka, said.

"Life has become unbearable due to lack of rains," he said. "Poor people are suffering immensely."

Police said similarly sized prayer services were held in several other parts of Bangladesh.

The hottest month

The country's largest Islamist party, Jam aat-e-Islami, issued a statement calling its members to join the prayer services planned for Wednesday and Thursday.

Authorities ordered all schools last week to cancel classes until the end of the month.

Temperatures across Bangladesh have reached more than 42C (108F) in the past week.

"April is usually the hottest month in Bangladesh. But this April has been one of the hottest since the country's independence (in 1971)," government forecaster Tariful Newaz Kabir said.

Kabir said fewer rainstorms than average for the period had contributed to the heat.

"We expect the high temperature will remain until the end of this month," he said.

Hospitals in the southern coastal district of Patuakhali had recorded local outbreaks of diarrhoea due to higher temperatures and the resulting increased salinity of local water sources, state medical officer Bhupen Chandra Mondal said.

"The number of diarrhoea patients is very high this year," he said. "This is all linked to climate change."