India’s Ganges overflowing with coronavirus deaths

Among the brown reeds, bodies wrapped in saffron cloth float in the sacred waters of the Ganges, a sad reminder of the ferocity of the coronavirus in India, which killed tens of thousands of people in a matter of weeks.

During the months of April and May, cemeteries and crematoriums were overwhelmed by the extraordinary daily influx of deaths from covid-19.

Due to lack of space or resources, many families in northern and eastern India were forced to throw the bodies of their loved ones into the waters of the Ganges, sacred to Hindus.

Others chose to bury them in tombs, just dug in the sandy banks of the great river, epithet of the mother goddess Ganga Ma, who gives and takes life.

But the arrival of the monsoon, accompanied by its torrential rains, caused flooding and dislodged the dead buried on its banks.

Funeral pyres by the river

About 150 bodies found in the past three weeks have been cremated, authorities in Allahabad, a major Hindu pilgrimage site in northern Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP.

Now the pyres multiply on the banks of the river, where they pile up piles of firewood in anticipation of more bodies to be cremated.

Dozens of partially submerged bodies still lay in the river, AFP said.

At the height of the second wave of the epidemic, up to 600 bodies were summarily buried on the banks of the Ganges, according to city officials.

But some residents believe this number is underestimated and They fear that new bodies will appear during the next floods.

Millions of Hindus traditionally flock to the Ganges to bathe and wash away their sins or to perform funeral rites, which result in the cremation of the dead on its banks, and then their ashes are scattered in the waters.

Sonu Chandel, a boatman who works in a crematorium on the banks of the Ganges, remembers the scenes of summary burials a few months ago which shocked him and he is worried about the rising waters.

“It was very sad to see these poor people bury their loved ones in such an outrageous manner, and the rising waters only made the situation worse,” he told AFP.

“I’m always afraid that a body will hit my paddle or that my boat will pass over a corpse when the water rises,” he added, traumatized.

This situation “risks causing dangerous diseases. The government must investigate,” Dipin Kumar, who lives near the Ganges in Allahabad, told AFP.

Body check

Residents of other important religious sites in northern India, located downstream, they fear that the prolonged presence of corpses will further infect the river, one of the most polluted in the world.

Police and state rescue teams patrol the river in search of bodies.

The authorities mobilize two boats for this task on the banks and sometimes call on local fishermen.

“The flow is very fast,” a police officer told AFP. “At the moment it’s a challenge to get the bodies out,” he said.

Por Jalees Andrabi, AFP

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