Horrible tragedies unfold at New Delhi's crematoriums as bodies pile up

Mayak Katri has been waiting for the past 6 hours at outside crematorium in Sarai Kale Khan, in West Delhi, with the body of his father to cremate, who died due to Covid-19.

Like him, there were over a two dozen ambulances waiting in queue to cremate bodies for the past several hours. Ambulances with blaring sirens keep coming to crematorium.

Inside, crematorium staff were struggling to cremate bodies. At a time, a dozen or more bodies were cremated. After finding crematorium staff struggle, many relatives also joined them, to arrange firewood to prepare funeral pyres.

Read | Crematoriums in India at breaking point as Covid-19 toll mounts

"I am working for the 10 days without proper rest. We are tired," says Sonu, who was assisting for cremation.

More than two dozen staff are running here and there to arrange funeral pyres as relatives of dead are crying.

Those waiting in queue are losing patience as the wait is getting longer and longer. They criticise the government for not making arrangements for quick cremation.

Indeed, a horrible tragedy is unfolding at New Delhi's crematoriums as they are struggling to cope with the deluge of the dead arriving at an unprecedented rate.

"I have never seen these many bodies coming to crematoriums. For curiosity, I went inside. Many young people have died. You can't explain the situation in words," Shivapal Yadav, who stays near by Sarai Kale Khan crematorium.

Several times, crematorium staff turn bodies away, which force people to drive to another crematorium. In many places, people are bringing mortal remains in personal cars due to non-availability of ambulances.

With deaths due to Covid-19 increasing, the government authorities have been preparing new pyre platforms in parking lots, empty grounds and even green belts abutting some major facilities. New platforms have been built in parking lots in several crematoriums, including Sarai Kale Khan, Ghazipur and Wazirabad. In some crematoriums, authorities have allowed for mass cremation in open places.

In many crematorium in the city, it was virtually chaos. Lying unattended on the floor, and more corpses awaited their turn, in many places which relatives were told would come 16 to 20 hours later.

Nigambodh Ghat, the main crematorium of the city, was used to cremate around 30-40 bodies in March, is now cremating 200 bodies in a day.

Even though several bodies are coming from hospitals, an equal number of bodies have also started coming directly from where they must have died due to various reasons.

"The Covid-19 pandemic virtually created havoc in the city," says Dharam Singh who is waiting outside crematorium to cremate his relative body.

The situation is same in the city's burial grounds. In several places, burial grounds facing several space crunch.

By official count, 3,601 people have died this month, of them 2,267 in the last one week alone in the second wave of the Covid-19. In all of February, the death toll was 57, and in March 117.