Scores of bodies f loating in Ganges
Images of the scores of floating corpses fuel speculation they were COVID-19 victims.
India’s discovery fuels speculation the corpses were those of COVID-19 victims.
NEW DELHI — Scores of bodies have been found floating down the Ganges River in eastern India as the country battles a ferocious surge in coronavirus infections.
Authorities said Tuesday that they hadn’t yet determined the cause of death of those whose bodies were found in the river.
Health officials working through the night Monday retrieved 71 bodies, officials in Bihar state said.
Images on social media of the bodies floating in the river prompted outrage and speculation that they were the corpses of COVID-19 victims. Authorities performed autopsies Tuesday but said they could not yet confirm the cause of death because of decomposition.
More corpses were found f loating in the river Tuesday, washing up in Ghazipur district in neighboring Uttar Pradesh state. Police and villagers were at the site, which is about 30 miles from where bodies were discovered Monday.
“We are trying to find out where did these ... bodies come from. How did they get here?” said Mangla Prasad Singh, a local official.
Surinder, a resident of Ghazipur who uses one name, said villagers didn’t have enough wood to cremate their dead on land.
“Due to the shortage of wood, the dead are being buried in the water,” he said. “Bodies from around 12 to 13 villages have been buried in the water.”
The Ganges is revered as holy by Hindus. The ashes of cremated bodies are often scattered in its waters.
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are experiencing rising numbers of COVID-19 cases as infections in India grow faster than anywhere else in the world.
On Tuesday, the country confirmed nearly 390,000 new cases, including 3,876 more deaths.
Overall, India has had the second-highest number of confirmed cases after the United States: nearly 23 million infections and more than 249,000 deaths. All of the figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.