In an unfolding human tragedy amid Covid, more “bodies in the water” emerged today in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with corpses seen floating under a bridge near the border between the two states. Officials in Bihar say 71 bodies washed up on the Ganga’s banks in Buxar yesterday, and they blame Uttar Pradesh.
Images of bodies reportedly tossed over a bridge by ambulance drivers were extensively posted on social media today, with posters expressing outrage at the indifference shown to the Covid victims and their relatives.
Ambulances driving on the bridge identified as Jaiprabha Setu, situated in Bihar’s Saran near the border with UP, allegedly dumped bodies of Covid victims into the water, according to Janardhan Singh Sigriwal, a Bihar BJP MP.
Mr Sigriwal said that he had contacted the Saran district administration to request that ambulance drivers not dump bodies there.
Locals, on the other hand, believe all states are to blame. “Ambulance drivers from both UP and Bihar toss bodies over,” said Arvind Singh, a local.
Bloated and decomposing corpses, believed to be those of Covid victims, were seen floating in the river yesterday before washing up on the banks near a cremation site in Buxar’s Chausa village.
The remains were taken out all night and post mortems were performed. The cause of death is yet to be determined due to their decomposition,” according to a press release from the Buxar administration.
“We’ve saved DNA traces to assist in the identification of the bodies,” it added.
Local residents allegedly threw the bodies into the river because of the exorbitant rates paid for firewood to cremate them, according to officials.
There is ample firewood at the cremation grounds, and on average, six to eight bodies are burned each day,” according to the press release.
We’ve advised both officials to be on the lookout for similar accidents in the future, and we’ve also asked them to educate residents about the dangers of dumping bodies into rivers.
Aman Samir, the District Magistrate of Buxar, said a “narrative” was being made that families were immersing their dead in the Ganga due to a shortage of logs for cremation or financial problems. Mr. Samir said, “This is not real.”
The bodies floating in the Ganga have sparked a feud between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
After the incident, Bihar Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was “painful.”
The bodies have arrived in Bihar from Uttar Pradesh. Our doctors verified that these bodies are four to five days old after doing a postmortem. Nitish Kumar is heartbroken over the incident as well as the damage to the Ganges. According to the Minister, a net has been put in the Ganges in Ranighat, which is on the boundary of UP and Bihar.
Dead bodies were discovered in the river near Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, today. The location is some 55 kilometers upriver from Buxar.
