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India may experience more deadly heat waves in the years to come, with even a slight increase in average temperatures likely to cause hundreds of deaths, a new study warns. Using data gathered by the India Meteorological Department from 1960 to 2009, researchers from the University of California, Irvin in the US found that when mean summer temperatures in India went from 27 to 27.5 degrees Celsius, the probability of a heat wave killing more than 100 people grew from 13 per cent to 32 per cent - an increase of 146 per cent. There were only 43 and 34 heat-related fatalities in 1975 and 1976, respectively, when the mean summer temperature was about 27.4 degrees Celsius.