MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - Residents of Moscow and surrounding towns have been gobbling down mountains of ice cream in an effort to stay cool in the stifling heat wave that has descended on the region.

"Ice cream makers have been unable to deliver enough ice cream," the Russian ice cream union head Valery Yelhov said. "Between 150-200 metric tons is being sold daily in the capital, and sales have grown 50-60% in the past few days."

Monday and Tuesday both saw hundred-year-old temperature records broken, and the heat looks set to stay put for the next few days.

Yelhov said that ice cream makers have been running out of ingredients and have had to dip into their reserves. He added that ice cream production grew 20-25% compared to the same period last year.

Another heat record for May fell Tuesday when a temperature of 32.1 degrees Celsius (89.7 F() was registered in Moscow, the Moscow meteorological service said.