Corpses found in Madhya Pradesh river while suspected Covid-dead flood the Ganga: Report

Bodies of several suspected Covid patients have been fished out of the Ganga in UP and Bihar over the last two days

Corpses have been found floating in Madhya Pradesh’s Runj river after scores of bodies were washed up on the banks of the Ganga in neighbouring states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh amid a devastating second wave of Covid-19.

Residents of Panna district alleged that four to five bodies were found in the tributary to the river Ken, which acts as a source of drinking water for cattle in the village.

“We fear an epidemic might break out in our village due to these bodies, which have been floating in the river since the last five to six days," NDTV reported a resident as saying.

District collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra, however, said only two bodies had been dragged out of the river. One belonged to a 95-year-old villager and the other was a cancer patient, both from Nandanpur village.

“The village sarpanch has told us that both bodies were immersed and not cremated, as part of a long-standing tradition. Both bodies were retrieved on Tuesday and buried safely," Mishra told the media.

Over the past few days, dozens of bodies of suspected Covid patients have been fished out of the Ganga from Buxar in Bihar and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. People have been dumping the dead in rivers as crematoriums run out of wood for pyres, sources told DH. Bihar and UP are locked in a tussle over ownership of the bodies found in Buxar, with Bihar officials claiming the bodies have floated down from the UP side of the Ganga.

Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha expressed similar sentiments, adding that a net has been placed in the Ganga in Ranighat, on the border with UP.

Reports suggest that dozens of bodies have been buried on the banks of the cremation ghats in Ganga in Unnao district, which is next to Kanpur, owing to the shortage of firewood.

There have also been reports and videos on social media of ambulances from both UP and Bihar dumping bodies into the river from a bridge near the Bihar border in Saran district.