A temperature of a sweltering 51C (123.8F) was recorded on Thursday in the northwest of India
Residents of Phalodi, in the desert state of Rajasthan, tried to endure the heat snap, the highest India has ever recorded. The previous record was 50.6C in 1956.
The city is accustomed to extremes of hot and cold, but the hospitals have faced overwhelming patient numbers amidst reports that the air-conditioners are not working and that the tap water is too hot to drink.
Children are particularly vulnerable to sunstroke, and the hospital has seen the number of cases of diarrhoea and vomiting increase. Last year more than 1,500 people died in India due to heat waves.
Workers have taken to begin their jobs at sunrise and leave around 10am to avoid the burning midday sun. Some venture back in the evening.
Citizens have called for government help.
People in the surrounding rural areas have suffered the ruin of their crops in the heat and some villages have never had electricity or running water.
A devastating drought, depriving many of a water supply, has worsened the impact of the high temperatures.
Heat waves have been hitting other parts of India as well as neighbouring Pakistan and forecasters predict that high temperatures will continue in June.
The highest recognised recorded temperature was 56.7C (134F) which struck on 10 July 1913 at Death Valley, California.
