Doordarshan anchor in Kolkata faints while reading heatwave updates
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New Delhi: A TV anchor working at the Kolkata branch of Doordarshan fainted while reading heatwave updates live on air after her blood pressure dropped from intense heat in the studio.
Lopamudra Sinha was heard reading out updates when she began to slur before blacked out, NDTV reported.
"The teleprompter faded away and I blacked out... I collapsed on my chair," she was quoted as saying in a video posted on Facebook.
The country is experiencing intense heat ranging from 40 degrees celsius to 46 degrees celsius in many areas.
Sinha claimed she fainted "due to intense heat and because her blood pressure plummeted suddenly” following a technical issue with the cooling system causing extreme heat inside the studio.
Sinha, who usually never carried a water bottle during program in her last 21 years of career, felt parched when 15 minutes were left for the broadcast to end.
"I never keep a water bottle with me. Be it a fifteen-minute or half an hour broadcast, I have never felt the need to sip water during broadcasts in my 21 years of career. But, I felt parched even as 15 minutes were left for the broadcast to end. When the TV was showing visuals and not my face, I pointed to the floor manager and asked for a bottle of water," she was quoted saying in Bangla.
She said she did not get a chance to drink water as she was reading general stories without bytes. However, towards the end of the bulletin, there came a byte and she snatched the opportunity, asking the floor manager for some water.
After drinking water she completed two stories but there were still two more stories pending when she fainted.
Some men were seen rushing to her aid and splashed water on her face; Sinha later thanked the producers for managing the broadcast after she fainted.
Following the first heatwave in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat, parts of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Gangetic West Bengal are under the second spell this month.
A heatwave occurs when the maximum temperature reaches the threshold of ‘at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in the coastal areas, and 30 degrees in the hilly regions,’ according to the report.