India: 100 dead bodies of COVID victims found in river Ganges

Bodies of more than 40 COVID-19 victims were found floating on the river Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, India. Authorities stated the corpses appeared to be bloated and somewhat scorched and that they may have ended up in the river as part of the custom of cremating victims of coronavirus near the banks of river Ganges in Uttar Pradesh. Some Indian media reports state as many as 100 bodies have been found and that their state implies they may have been in the river for some days. Some local inhabitants and reporters told BBC Hindi a lack of wood for cremations and the increasing costs connected with cremations were leaving some families with no choice but to put the corpses of loved ones who had departed from coronavirus directly into the river. Local resident Chandra Mohan stated that private hospitals are robbing people. Ordinary people are not left with any money to give a priest and spend more on cremation at the river bank. "They are asking 2,000 Indian rupees [$27] just to get the bodies out of the ambulance. The river has become their last recourse so people are immersing corpses in the river." said a local.

A second wave of the virus is devastating parts of India, with the mortality rate increasing massively in recent weeks. Most of the country's crematoriums have gone out of spaces.

India is now the epicentre of the COVID-10 pandemic. It has reported more than 22.6 million coronavirus cases and 246,116 Covid-related losses since the start of the pandemic, as per to Johns Hopkins University data. The second-most popolous country is out of oxygen tanks, medical supplies and even vaccine to control the crisis. Hundreds of people are dying because of lack of treatment as the country is out of hospital beds to accomodate patients. The crisis have raised an international alarm on the massive health-crisis in India.