STRAY DOG MUTILATES COVID VICTIM’S BODY AT CREMATORIUM
GHAZIABAD: The body of a 51-year-old man, who had died of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), was bitten by a stray dog Monday afternoon at the crematorium in Ghaziabad, his family claimed.
According to the family, the body of the victim, who used to work as an orderly of a district judge, was wrapped in a PPE suit, as per Covid protocols, and placed on the footpath while they waited in the shade of a tree, at the electric crematorium in Hindon. HT had previously reported that the Hindon crematorium had been reeling under an influx of bodies slated to be cremated with Covid protocols, with the infrastructure not able to meet the demand.
The family claimed the victim succumbed to the disease around 1:30am on Monday.
“He had tested positive for Covid-19 last week. He breathed his last at Santosh Medical College, where he died of a cardiac arrest,” said Trilok Singh, a relative of the victim.
Singh said the ambulance reached them by 8 am Monday, after which the body was brought to Hindon. “We took a token at 10 am and were told our turn will come after three hours. We were standing in the queue but as it was very hot, we went and sat in the shade while the body was on the footpath outside the cremation ground,” he said.
He added that around 2pm, passersby informed them that a stray dog had torn through the PPE kit of the body and had “eaten the face” of the body. The family said they covered the part of the body, where the PPE kit had been torn, with a cloth.
The body was cremated around 3.30 pm and the family said they have not lodged any complaint in the matter.
When contacted, Ghaziabad additional municipal commissioner, Pramod Kumar, said that fencing work will be done in the area to avoid such incidents in the future.
“I have not been informed of the incident officially but if this has happened, we will deploy a dog catcher in the area to get hold of stray dogs and relocate them. Fencing will also be done for better security from stray dogs,” he said.