Bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims found floating in Ganges in Bihar

Several our bodies, decomposed, bloated and suspected to be of individuals who succumbed to COVID 19, have been on Monday found floating in the river Ganga in a Bihar district. Officials in Chausa block of Buxar, which borders Uttar Pradesh, rushed to the spot of the unseemly sight upon listening to the information.

“We were alerted by the local chowkidar that many bodies have been spotted floating from upstream. We have so far recovered 15 of these. None of the deceased happens to be a resident of the district,” Chausa BDO Ashok Kumar instructed PTI over cellphone.

He stated “many Uttar Pradesh districts are situated right across the river and the bodies may have been dumped in the Ganges for reasons not known to us. We cannot confirm whether the deceased were indeed COVID 19 positive. The bodies have started decomposing. But we are taking all precautions while ensuring that these are disposed of in a decent manner”.

Some information channels claimed the quantity of our bodies to be as excessive as 100, which the BDO dismissed as “highly exaggerated”.

Many native residents, who spoke earlier than cameras with their faces masked, claimed that the district administration was “in denial over many such unfortunate incidents involving residents of Buxar”.

They alleged that these manning cremation ghats have been charging a fortune at any time when individuals reached there with the physique of a close to and pricey one who died of the coronavirus.

“There is also a shortage of wood and other material required for cremation. Availability of these has taken a hit because of the lockdown. So many bereaved family members are impelled to immerse the bodies of their departed relatives in the river,” one of the residents stated.

Often relations of a COVID sufferer will not be handed over the physique by the administration which claims it might carry out the final rites observing the protocol in place for the lethal virus, one other native said.

“What indeed happens is that the officials develop cold feet later and fearing that they might catch the infection themselves, they dump the bodies in the river and flee. Little do they realize that they are also polluting the river,” he added. 

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