COVID-19 victims bodies float in Ganga in Bihar's Buxar

Several bodies, decomposed, bloated and suspected to be of people who succumbed to COVID 19, were on Monday found floating in the river Ganga in a Bihar district. Officials in Chausa block of Buxar, which borders Uttar Pradesh, rushed to the spot of the unseemly sight upon hearing the news.

"We were alerted by the local chowkidar that many bodies have been spotted floating from upstream. We have so far recovered 15 of these. None of the deceased happens to be a resident of the district," Chausa BDO Ashok Kumar



told PTI over phone.

He said "many Uttar Pradesh districts are situated right across the river and the bodies may have been dumped in the Ganges for reasons not known to us. We cannot confirm whether the deceased were indeed COVID 19 positive. The bodies have started decomposing. But we are taking all precautions while ensuring that these are disposed of in a decent manner".

Some news channels claimed the number of bodies to be as high as 100, which the BDO dismissed as "highly exaggerated".