Twenty-four people have died in the eastern Indian state of Orissa because of a heat wave, said state revenue minister Manmohan Samal.

He said authorities were investigating whether far more people had been killed in the extreme temperatures.

"The government has heard reports that 113 people have died due to heat-related reasons but we can only confirm 24 deaths right now. We are still investigating the reports," Samal told AFP.

According to health workers, the situation has been made worse by frequent power cuts across the state, where temperatures have ranged between 44 and 45 degrees Celsius (111 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit).

Titlagar town, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Orissa's state capital Bhubaneshwar, touched 47 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

"We are doing our best to get water to the villages where sources of water are drying out. Health workers are distributing oral rehydration salts and we have set up roadside trauma centres with water booths and coolers," said Samal.

Soaring heat has affected other parts of India and officials said three elderly people had died of sunstroke in Maharashtra state, while eight women and children had died in southern Andhra Pradesh state.

Mohan Kanda, chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh, said most of the dead were street children and elderly women.

"We have made arrangements to treat sunstroke patients. We have directed the district authorities to ensure adequate stocks of medicines such as oral rehydration salts, IV fluids and glucose at all public health centres," said Kanda.

"The staff at state-run hospitals have been told to remain on high alert to treat the heat wave victims," he added.

More than 1,400 people in Andhra Pradesh state died due to severe heat conditions in 2003.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.