Image Courtesy:anandabazar.com
Dozens of unidentified and some partially burnt bodies have been found to be floating in the Yamuna river in Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh, amid the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. According to an NDTV report, this form of disposal was probably adopted due to fear of spread of the virus during cremations.
Watch | Dozens of bodies were seen floating in the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur amid a surge in #COVID19 cases. pic.twitter.com/hBkVhZCDAa
— NDTV (@ndtv) May 9, 2021
Anoop Singh, the Additional Superintendent of Police, Hamirpur, told the HT that many families preferred to immerse them in the river as the last rites, instead of cremating them. He said, “Two of the bodies were partially burnt. We have informed the two districts and have also stepped-up vigil in our area.”
Dinesh Nigam, who is the councillor from Maudaha, Hamirpur Nagar Palika, told the HT that many people have succumbed to the virus in the second wave. He said, “In the second wave of the pandemic, people have died in large numbers in villages and people out of fear are not helping one another. In such a scenario, they are dumping their dead into the rivers.”
As per the government bulletin on Covid-19 deaths, Hamirpur has recorded one death on May 9, about 5 on May 8 and a total of 70 fatalities since the pandemic started.
An eyewitness and local, Siyaram, told IndiaToday, “People are cremating bodies on the fields. No government or local official has any record of how many people have been cremated or their bodies disposed of after dying due to Covid-19 in these areas.”
Related:
Unused ambulances found in Bihar: Pappu Yadav accuses BJP MP of foul play!
EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds die of Covid and data goes missing, UP gov’t remorseless
Will Union Minister Santosh Gangwar’s letter to UP Chief Minister exposing O2 shortage, make a difference?
Allahabad HC not satisfied with DM Meerut’s response over oxygen shortage