At least 40 bodies of suspected Covid-19 victims have been found on the banks of the Ganges river in India's Buxar district in Bihar, according to the BBC.
Dozens of bodies of suspected #COVID19 victims washed up on the Ganges river in India.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) May 10, 2021
Locals believe they were dumped because cremation sites are at capacity. India is reporting almost 4,000 deaths from the virus daily, and just 2.5% of the population has been fully vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/0YwplOP6LU
Bodies found in river
Media reports quoted local official Ashok Kumar, who corroborated social media posts on the discovery of the bodies.
Kumar said, as reported by India's NDTV news channel, that the number of bodies in the river could be as close to 100.
Another local official, KK Upadhyay, told NDTV that the bodies appear to be bloated and have been in the water for several days.
Other media reports also claimed that some bodies were partially burnt.
According to Times of India, Buxar's local administration claimed that the bodies had come from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
The Ganges river flows through the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, before emptying out into the Bay of Bengal.
Investigations are being carried out to find out where the bodies came from.
It is a matter of investigation to ascertain if these corpses come from Varanasi, Allahabad, or any other place. We are alerting officials near ghat areas to make sure that it does not happen again: Buxar SDO, KK Upadhyay
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) May 10, 2021
Officials have been directed to dispose of the bodies, either by burying or cremating them.
Covid-19 numbers in India
On May 10, India reported 3,66,317 new Covid-19 cases.
As many as 3,747 new deaths were also reported, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 2,46,146.
Top photo from Getty Images.
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