A news anchor fainted while reading heatwave updates on live television in India.

Lopamudra Sinha, an anchor with broadcaster Doordarshan in Kolkata, West Bengal, was reading the weather news from a teleprompter when she began slurring her words amid the 'extreme heat' in the studio on April 18.

With 15 minutes left in the broadcast, Lopamudra suddenly collapsed in her chair as staff came to her aid and splashed her with water.

Speaking after, Lopamudra said: 'During live news, my blood pressure dropped drastically and I fainted. I had been feeling sick for quite some time. I thought drinking some water would fix it. I never sit down to read the news with water. Be it 10-minute news or half an hour, it is never needed.

'I pointed to the floor manager and asked for a bottle of water. But yesterday, at that time, the general story was going, and no bytes were running. As a result, I could not drink the water. At last, a byte came and I finally had the water.'

Lopamudra said that she tried to soldier through to the end as there were only four more stories remaining. However, she felt sick and eventually blacked out while reading the weather news.

She added: 'I never even dreamt that something like this would happen.'

Lopamudra also apologised to her channel and thanked the producers for managing the program after she fainted.

West Bengal saw searing temperatures reaching up to 42.5 degrees Celsius in the state's West Burdwan District.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted that other parts of South Bengal will also experience heat waves over the weekend.

Areas such as Dum Dum, Midnapore, Bankura, Salt Lake, Canning, Kalikunda, Burdwan, Asansol, Purulia, Jhargram,and Balurghat have all seen daytime temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.

Due to the extreme heat, the West Bengal government has declared an early summer break for state-run schools, starting from April 22.