DHAKA: Hundreds of Bangladeshis gathered on an open field in Dhaka on Monday to pray for rain after the metropolis of 20 million people recorded its hottest day in almost 60 years.

Police said more than 500 worshippers congregated on the Aftabnagar playing ground, where popular TV cleric Shaikh Ahmadullah led the prayers.

“They held the prayers for rains. They also held prayers for easing the temperature and protection from the heatwave,” local police chief Abul Kalam Azad said.

Bangladesh is at the forefront of climate change with frequent deadly floods and erratic rains.

The rains that usually fall in April and May have failed to materialise this year and the country has been gripped by unusually hot weather since April 4, Afroza Sultana from the meteorology department said.

On Sunday temperatures in Dhaka soared to 40.6 degrees Celsius, the highest since April 30, 1965, when the temperature hit 42 degrees Celsius, she said.

Sultana said temperatures would gradually decline in the coming days and rains were expected later this month.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2023