Ganges river swells with hundreds of India’s suspected Covid victims
Abbianca Makoni
H
undreds of bodies have been found floating in the Ganges with some buried in the sand of its banks as India continues to battle a second wave of Covid-19.
Local residents have claimed to find “150 to 200 graves” on the river bed with burials taking place all day from 7am to 11pm.
Some fear the corpses being found in the holy river, which Hindus consider sacred, are victims of the virus.
The brutal second wave in the country has already spread - ripping through a fragile health system ill-equipped for a crisis of this magnitude.
The country’s health ministry reported on Thursday that 3,874 deaths from Covid-19 had taken place in the last 24 hours, pushing the overall total to 287,122.
Some residents including local journalists dispute these figures, believing the true toll to be far higher.
One journalist in Kanpur told the BBC the corpses were evidence of a “massive discrepancy between the official Covid-19 death figures and the actual numbers on the ground.”
“All electric crematoriums were running 24/7 in April. Even that was not enough, so the administration allowed the grounds outside to be used for cremations using wood,” he added.
“But they only accepted bodies that were coming from hospitals with Covid-19 certificates, and a huge number of people were dying at home, without getting any tests.
“Their families took the bodies to the outskirts of the city or to neighbouring districts like Unnao. When they couldn’t find wood or a cremation spot, they just buried them on the river bed.”
Traditionally Hindus cremate the dead but amid a shortage of wood for cremations families have had to find other ways.
Some communities follow what is known as “Jal Pravah,” which is the practice of letting the bodies of children or those who die from infectious diseases float in the river.
Policemen stand next to the bodies buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayagraj
/ AP
Those who cannot afford cremation wrap the body in white muslin and push it into the water.
But on Wednesday, the state government banned the practice and offered funds to poor families unable to afford cremations.
In other places across the country, police have been pulling bodies out of the river with sticks and recruiting boatmen to bring them ashore, reported the BBC.
Officials have also installed nets across the water to catch any more.
Signs of corpses floating on the banks of rivers were first spotted on May 10 when 71 corpses were found in Bihar’s Chausa village, near the state border, the broadcaster added.
Abbianca Makoni
H
undreds of bodies have been found floating in the Ganges with some buried in the sand of its banks as India continues to battle a second wave of Covid-19.
Local residents have claimed to find “150 to 200 graves” on the river bed with burials taking place all day from 7am to 11pm.
Some fear the corpses being found in the holy river, which Hindus consider sacred, are victims of the virus.
The brutal second wave in the country has already spread - ripping through a fragile health system ill-equipped for a crisis of this magnitude.
The country’s health ministry reported on Thursday that 3,874 deaths from Covid-19 had taken place in the last 24 hours, pushing the overall total to 287,122.
Some residents including local journalists dispute these figures, believing the true toll to be far higher.
One journalist in Kanpur told the BBC the corpses were evidence of a “massive discrepancy between the official Covid-19 death figures and the actual numbers on the ground.”
“All electric crematoriums were running 24/7 in April. Even that was not enough, so the administration allowed the grounds outside to be used for cremations using wood,” he added.
“But they only accepted bodies that were coming from hospitals with Covid-19 certificates, and a huge number of people were dying at home, without getting any tests.
“Their families took the bodies to the outskirts of the city or to neighbouring districts like Unnao. When they couldn’t find wood or a cremation spot, they just buried them on the river bed.”
Traditionally Hindus cremate the dead but amid a shortage of wood for cremations families have had to find other ways.
Some communities follow what is known as “Jal Pravah,” which is the practice of letting the bodies of children or those who die from infectious diseases float in the river.
Policemen stand next to the bodies buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayagraj
/ AP
Those who cannot afford cremation wrap the body in white muslin and push it into the water.
But on Wednesday, the state government banned the practice and offered funds to poor families unable to afford cremations.
In other places across the country, police have been pulling bodies out of the river with sticks and recruiting boatmen to bring them ashore, reported the BBC.
Officials have also installed nets across the water to catch any more.
Signs of corpses floating on the banks of rivers were first spotted on May 10 when 71 corpses were found in Bihar’s Chausa village, near the state border, the broadcaster added.
