Coronavirus: Bihar panics as decomposing bodies found at river Ganga bank

Patna : The scale of India's second wave can be measured with the fact that bodies of people can be seen floating in rivers. Days after half a dozen of human bodies were found in river near Hamirpur district in UP, now around 40 decomposed, bloated bodies were located at the bank of river Ganga.

People in Chausa town woke up to the horrific site and raised an alarm. The local administration believes that the bodies may have been of coronavirus patients whose relatives may have been unable to find space to cremate or bury them.

"Some 40-45 bodies were seen floating," said Chausa district official Ashok Kumar, standing at the site of the horror, Mahadeva Ghat in Chausa.

"They are bloated and have been in the water for at least five to seven days. We are disposing of the bodies. We need to investigate where they are from, which town in UP - Bahraich or Varanasi or Allahabad," said another official, KK Upadhyay.

"The bodies are not from here as we don't have a tradition of disposing of bodies in the river," Mr Upadhyay said.

A panic situation has erupted with people fearing if the bodies may have infected the river water.

"People are terrified of getting Covid. We have to bury the bodies," said Narendra Kumar, a villager.

"A district administration official came and said they would pay Rs 500 for cleaning up the bodies," he told reporters.