LUCKNOW: At least 80 bodies were found floating in a stream of India’s Ganges, sparking renewed concerns on Wednesday about the health of the river where millions of Hindus cremate their dead, an official said.

The bodies were discovered in a shallow tributary of the Ganges near a cremation area in the northern state of Utter Pradesh, police and a local official said.

Television footage showed dogs and birds feeding on the bloated and decaying bodies floating in the stream, whose waters are thought to have receded recently.

An official estimated that 80 bodies had been retrieved but warned the figure could rise.

“There could be around 100 bodies but we are yet to get an exact number,” District Magistrate Saumya Agarwal said by phone from Unnao district.

“It seems that as the water level has receded in the river, these bodies have surfaced. We are trying to figure out the reason.

“We have sent a team of doctors to collect the samples from bodies to investigate the case,” she said.

Police Inspector General Satish Ganesh said the bodies were probably given river burials upstream at a cremation area known as Pariyar Ghat before becoming stranded in shallow water.

Millions of Hindus practice open-air cremation, with the ashes of the loved ones scattered in the revered but heavily polluted river.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2015

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