2 die during cremation of Covid-19 victim in Jammu

Two family members of a Covid-19 victim died under mysterious circumstances while taking his body for cremation in a desert riverbed area on the peripheries of Jammu city on Thursday.

The officials in winter capital said on Friday that the deaths might have been caused due to dehydration but added that the magisterial probe already ordered into the incident will ascertain the truth.

Speaking on the Jammu incident, the police sources said that the duo was family members of a person who had died of Covid-19 on Wednesday night. They were asked to conduct the last rites on the next morning in Sidhra area of Jammu but the cremation got delayed.

Later during the day on Thursday, the group of four persons dressed up in PPE kits headed for the location identified by the authorities for the cremation. “As we travelled through the

sandy banks of a river, the wheels of the ambulance got stuck and we had to carry the body for some distance,” said one of the persons in the group.

He said that he and others were apparently dehydrated but their pleas that they be provided with, at least, plain water were ignored by the concerned officials. “Three of our family members

parched because of the high temperature asked for water. But the officials did not give water and instead scolded us. As the three fell unconscious,” he said. He added that he took one of them to Jammu’s Government Medical College hospital where he was revived. However, two others died on the spot.