The mercury soared to 38.6 degrees Celsius Sunday - marking the hottest day this summer and the 21st day this year that the high topped out above 35 in Shanghai.

 

The scorcher followed a high of 36.8 degrees on Saturday, when a welder died of heat stroke while working in the cabin of a ship in Chongming County.

 

The 57-year-old worker was wearing heavy clothing in an airless space when he fainted. The man, who was not identified, died on the way to the hospital.

 

The heat wave is forecast to continue for several days, with a high of 37 expected today, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

 

Forecasters blamed the hot weather on a subtropical high-pressure system that's pumping hot muggy air into Shanghai.

 

(Shanghai Daily August 14, 2006)