In India, hundreds of corpses of Covid victims resurface because of the rise of the Ganges

ALLAHABAD, India.- While the the number of daily infections fell below 40,000 for the first time in three months in India, body wrapped in sheets to accumulate on the shore of the holy waters of the Ganges, sad reminder of the ferocity of the coronavirus in the country, which in a few weeks has killed tens of thousands of people.

The descending curves of coronavirus cases and deaths that have been recorded in recent days, With 37,500 new cases and 907 deaths in the past 24 hours, they stand in stark contrast to the corpses that float in the holy river of Indians.

At the worst time of the second wave, cemeteries and crematoriums were overwhelmed by the extraordinary daily influx of Covid-19 deaths.

Due to lack of space or resources, many families they were forced to deposit the bodies of their relatives in the waters of the Ganges.

Others chose to bury them in barely dug graves on the sandy banks of the great river, epithet of the god-mother Ganga Ma, who gives and takes life.

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

Near 150 bodies found in the past three weeks they were set on fire, authorities said in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Now, funeral pyres typical of the months when the virus devastated India are multiplying on the banks of the river, where more bodies are expected to appear for cremation.

According to municipal authorities, as many as 600 bodies were summarily buried on the banks of the Ganges at the height of the second wave, although some locals believe the figure is underestimated.

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.

End of Chandel, a banker who works in a crematorium on the edge of a river, remembers the scenes of summary burials a few months ago which shocked him and 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 make the situation worse,” he said. “I’m always afraid that a (a body) will hit my paddle or that (my boat) will pass over a corpse when the water risesHe added, traumatized.

“This situation risks causing dangerous diseases. The government should investigate this, ”he said. Dipin kumar, who lives near the Ganges, in Allahabad.

The inhabitants of other important religious sites in North India, located downstream, they fear that the prolonged presence of bodies will further infect the river, one of the most polluted in the world.

Police and rescue teams patrol the shore in search of bodies. Two boats take on the task and sometimes turn to local fishermen.

“The flow is very fast,” said a policeman. “Right now it’s a challenge to take out the bodies“, did he declare.

AFP and AP agencies

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