NEPAL holds mass cremations
DAILY MAIL, LONDON 28 APRIL 2015 As efforts continue to rescue survivors from beneath the mounds of rubble across Kathmandu, the grieving Nepalese nation has begun the grim and daunting task of cremating the thousands of victims who were killed during Saturday’s devastating earthquake.
With the death toll now standing at more than 4,000, mass cremations have been taking place next to the Bagmati river, the waterway which divides the Nepalese capital, as mourning families attempt to give their loved ones the honourable send-
With the death toll now standing at more than 4,000, mass cremations have been taking place next to the Bagmati river
off so revered in Hindu tradition. Yesterday, plumes of white, acrid smoke could be seen floating across Kathmandu, as hundreds of bodies were burned in the ghats beside the river.
Around these ceremonies, families gathered, wailing in grief for their loved ones. Scores of dead children were wrapped in orange and gold cloth on the ground, as their relatives prayed for their souls in heartbreaking desperation.
Meanwhile, corpses continued to line the streets of the city, lying among three-dayold debris still evident from the tremor which wreaked havoc through the Himalayan region.
‘People are conducting the last rites wherever they can and without following the proper rituals,’ a witness told IANS.
Meanwhile, overwhelmed authorities are trying to cope with a shortage of drinking water and food, as well as the threat of disease.
The sick and wounded were lying out in the open in Kathmandu, while hundreds of climbers were staying put at the Mount Everest base camp.