A drone video showed bodies of many who perished in the recent COVID-19 surge in India caused by a variant were either dropped into the Ganges River or buried along its banks, reported Insider via MSN.
River Ganges banks turned into a mass burial site
Many of the affected families live close to the site, especially in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. One suspected cause for the mass burial site is that the victims outnumber the capacity of the local crematory centers, or having their relatives' last rights via funeral pyres is not affordable for many, as per Al Jazeera News this week.
One common belief in why they put the bodies in the river is that its waters possess the power to purify the deceased, even in death from COVID-19.
One of the residents told The telegraph that it was horrific as the local dogs ate the dead. These dogs would be bringing the remains of the corpses to houses, to the shock of people living there. One comment is that the government has not effectively dealt with the pandemic, and the drone video that showed the massive number of gravesites was proof of the government's inefficiency.
Based on those living in Dongri village, as many as 40 bodies were deposited and left by unidentified individuals. To have that many COVID victims brought to the Ganges river is a problem for locals. Many residents are not sure how to claim or even start counting all the bodies left unattended.
India is in the grips of a deadly second wave racking up more death, for the moment. A current count revealed that more than 26 million cases were reported by the authorities, with more than 295,000 deaths when the pandemic started last year, according to the Johns Hopkins University. There is suspicion that numbers are underreported and that actual numbers are suspected to be five or ten times higher.
Bodies washed up in Buxar and Uttar Pratesh
Some 40 bodies washed up from the river in the Buxar district that lay close to Uttar Pradesh. Both are the poorest states in India.
According to District official Ashok Kumar, there is an order that all officials concerned should get all the bodies and have them buried or cremated to dispose of them.
The pandemic is spreading rapidly all over India's vast rural provinces, forcing local health facilities, including the available crematoriums and cemeteries, to become swamped with too many bodies.
Images of many dead from the pandemic elicited a shock reaction from those living in these areas as social media also continue to report the sheer number of fatalities. Rural India is facing a surge that is moving forward faster than expected.
Another local official, Naval Kant from Chausa town in Buxar, said they were overwhelmed, seeing the massive burial sites.
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