Crematoriums overwhelmed as death toll soars

India's capital Delhi registered 348 Covid-19 deaths on Friday, or one death about every four minutes, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases which saw the country report more than 330,000 new cases and 2,200 deaths that same day.

In the southern state of Karnataka, the government has been forced to permit families to cremate or bury their dead loved ones in their own farms, lands or backyards, as long as they complied with health guidelines.

"It is prudent to swiftly and respectfully dispose of the body in a decentralised manner keeping in view the grieving circumstance and to avoid crowding in crematoriums and burial grounds," an April 21 order read, with Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa describing the Covid-19 situation as "out of control".

The state capital Bangalore - Asia's Silicon Valley - had recorded the highest death toll in a day, with 124 deaths reported on Friday.

The city's seven Covid-19 crematoriums have been operating round the clock to cremate 20 to 25 bodies arriving each day, about four times the average in normal times.

A major construction entrepreneur in Bangalore, who did not wish to be named, said his family dug up the lawn in his backyard to bury his father last week.

"As Hindus, we should cremate him, but all seven crematoriums in the city told us there's a 48-hour wait," he said, his voice choked with emotion.

The Sunday Times witnessed heartbreaking scenes on Thursday at the Hindon Cremation Ground in Ghaziabad, a Delhi suburb.

A young woman, kitted out in a full personal protective equipment (PPE) suit, stood wailing, her arms outstretched, as her father's body was laid on a pyre after a few hours' wait. Nearby, two weeping women hugged each other, standing next to an ambulance that had the body of their loved one.

Crematoriums in Delhi and other parts of India have buckled under a record surge in Covid-19 deaths.

At the cremation ground in Ghaziabad, several bodies were being cremated using wooden funeral pyres placed on brick-and-mortar platforms in a special section designated for Covid-19 victims.

Five such platforms were added last week in response to the growing number of bodies arriving at the cremation ground.

Among those waiting was Mr Suraj Rawat, 25, from Ghaziabad, who had come to cremate his maternal aunt. The family was told they would have to wait 16 hours for an electric cremation.

"There are so many people, there is such a crowd. What can we do?" he said.

Instead of waiting that long for an electric cremation, the family ended up cremating the body using wood in a clearing in the open area designated for Covid-19 victims. This happened at about 9pm on Thursday, around four hours after they arrived at the crematorium.

Unable to cope with its incessant use, the electric furnace at the Ghaziabad crematorium broke down last week and had to be fixed.

Similar morbid reports have come in from other parts of India as obituaries fill up newspapers and bodies pile up at crematoriums.

At the cremation ground in Ghaziabad, a staff member said the facility had received around 20 Covid-19 bodies by 6pm on Thursday, with more coming in.

"Let us work," he pleaded, cutting off the conversation abruptly as he resumed overseeing a few workers weighing the precise amount of logs for each wood-fire cremation.

Ambulance drivers who had brought in bodies were also waiting, their vehicles parked in a long queue. Mr Irshad, who uses only one name, had brought in two bodies from the MMG District Hospital in Ghaziabad around 11am on Thursday. More than eight hours later, one of them had been cremated. The other lay outside the ambulance.

"I have never seen something like this, never seen bodies being burnt outside like this," said the 25-year-old driver, who has been driving an ambulance for nearly seven years.

The only electric furnace here takes about two hours to cremate a body. It is running round the clock, but it is still inadequate for the reported 40-plus Covid-19 bodies that have come to the crematorium on average daily in recent days.

Families who opt to cremate using wood have to wait for a few hours as well. Pyres have to fully burn out first, following which the allotted space is cleaned by the cremation ground's limited staff, who are also responsible for setting up fresh pyres.

Bookings for wooden cremations for Thursday had run out around 6pm and families were being directed to another cremation ground in the city.

The sight of bodies overwhelming India's crematoriums has cast doubts on the country's official Covid-19 death toll, which stood at 189,544 yesterday.

On April 22, data from the local district administration in Ghaziabad, for instance, indicated only eight Covid-19 deaths, much lower than the average number of Covid-19 bodies that have been cremated daily at the Hindon Cremation Ground in the past few days.

Local media reports from across India have suggested similar mismatches between the number of Covid-19 bodies at crematoriums and the local jurisdiction's official death toll from the disease.

• Additional reporting by Rohini Mohan in Bangalore