India Crematoriums At Breaking Point As Covid Toll Mounts
Faizan Hashmi Published April 27, 2021 | 08:46 PM
The Delhi crematorium where Sanjay acts as a priest is dealing with so many bodies from India's Covid nightmare that it has been forced to expand into an adjacent car park
New Delhi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Apr, 2021 ) :The Delhi crematorium where Sanjay acts as a priest is dealing with so many bodies from India's Covid nightmare that it has been forced to expand into an adjacent car park.
"I have lost count," he told AFP of the number of dead brought to the facility.
"We start at sunrise and cremations continue past midnight," he says next to burning pyres and smouldering piles of ash.
Families mourn silently on the roadside of this low-income neighbourhood as they wait the turn of their relatives wrapped in white cloth and garlands of yellow marigolds.
Wailing ambulances regularly bring more bodies. People in homes overlooking the crematorium live with the stench of burning bodies and the cries of grieving families.
India's hospitals are being stretched to breaking point by an explosion in coronavirus cases with people dying outside their doors or at home due to a lack of beds, drugs and oxygen.
Crematoriums are working overtime, their chimneys cracking and iron frames melting from constant use. Wood is reportedly in short supply in places and some families are told to bring their own to burn.
Many crematoriums and graveyards say the official death toll from the virus comes nowhere close to reflecting the additional number of bodies they are dealing with.
For the past three days the crematorium in the Seemapuri area of northeast Delhi has been performing more than 100 funerals a day, and has run out of space.
"We tried to accommodate cremations on the walkways and wherever we could find space but the bodies were coming endlessly," coordinator Jitender Singh Shanty, in a yellow turban, blue hazmat suit and lanyard, told AFP.
"We had to request authorities to allow us to extend the facility to the parking lot," the Sikh says, orange flames licking up off pyres behind him as night falls.
Shanty says they have cremated around 600 bodies since the beginning of the month and that families now have to wait hours to perform the last rites.
"If things don't improve then we might be forced to perform the cremations on the road as there is no space left now."
Recent Stories
Sindh home minister chairs law and order meeting
Bakht Kakar orders to ensure maximum facilities in livestock sector
NEPRA concludes hearing into FCA of DISCOs for March
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
Chairman COPHC lauds MoMA’s efforts at Gwadar Port, Free Zone
CM’s aide directs steps to prevent domestic violence against women
LESCO detects 74,621 power pilferers in 220 days
Regional Police officer (RPO) Shariq Kamal Siddiqui holds open court
LESCO collects over Rs 4.36m from 189 defaulters in 24 hours
Secretary health urges public to follow precautionary measures to avoid spreadin ..
PM directs formation of committee for consultation with provinces on carbon cred ..
UAF to ink MoU with Ethiopian universities
More Stories From World
-
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
41 minutes ago -
Romania court opens way for start of influencer Tate's trial
1 hour ago -
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70
1 hour ago -
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
1 hour ago -
Russia targets Ukraine railways as Western aid due to arrive
2 hours ago -
Miner Anglo American rejects BHP's near $39-billion takeover bid
2 hours ago
-
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
2 hours ago -
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
2 hours ago -
Saudi to host top Arab, EU diplomats for Gaza talks: officials
2 hours ago -
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70: govt
2 hours ago -
US Fed's favored inflation measure accelerates in March
3 hours ago -
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70: govt
3 hours ago