Bloated, decomposing bodies washed up on the banks of the Ganga in Bihar’s Buxar this morning, revealing the scale of India’s Covid crisis. To the horror of locals, dozens of bodies were seen floating in the river at Chausa city, on Bihar’s border with Uttar Pradesh, and later piling up on the banks.
The gruesome sight woke people up early this morning, prompting them to raise an alarm. The local administration claims the bodies floated down from Uttar Pradesh and are the remains of Covid patients whose families may have been unable to locate a suitable location to cremate or bury them.
“Some 40-45 bodies were seen floating,” Chausa district official Ashok Kumar said as he stood at the scene of the horror, Mahadeva Ghat in Chausa. He said that the bodies appeared to have been dumped into the water. According to some reports, there may be up to 100 corpses.
“They’ve been in the water for at least five or seven days and are swollen. We need to find out where they are from and which town in UP they are from “KK Upadhyay, another official,said.
There is widespread concern in the town and surrounding areas over infection from the bodies and the river water. This has created a situation of Panic in the town, people are terrified about the fact that how mysteriously these body wash up at the Bank of Ganges
“People are afraid of being infected with Covid. We must bury the bodies “Narendra Kumar, a villager, spoke up.
“A district administration official came over and said they would pay 500 to clean up the bodies,” he told reporters.
The bodies have triggered a blame game between UP and Bihar.
For nearly three weeks, India has reported over three lakh Covid cases a day, with over 4,000 deaths last week setting a new high.
