Death toll rises to 53 in India cold snap

The death toll from a cold snap sweeping northern India rose to 53 Wednesday with three more homeless people reported to have succumbed to the chill.
Two men died overnight in Uttar Pradesh, taking the cold-related toll in the northern state to 44 since early December, the Press Trust of India quoted government officials as saying.
A homeless worker died Wednesday in Punjab, which took to seven the death toll in the state bordering Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state and one of its poorest.
Two other people have died in neighbouring Haryana state.
Lakes, springs and rivers, meanwhile, froze in Himachal Pradesh state as the mercury plummeted to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the mountainous region Tuesday night, the weather office said.