Pictures of crammed crematories and pyres burning at parks have grabbed worldwide attention in Covid season. Now comes the sight of abandoned bodies floating down the Ganga.

Decomposed and bloated bodies were found in the Ganga in Bihar’s Buxar district on Monday, with residents alleging these were dead Covid patients dumped in the river by hapless families or callous government officials.

Ashok Kumar, the block development officer of Chausa in Buxar, told TV channels that “40 to 45” bodies had been recovered. He had earlier told PTI the bodies must have been dumped upstream in Uttar Pradesh.

He had said it was unclear whether the bodies belonged to Covid patients.

But a Chausa resident told The Telegraph that many families had been “immersing” dead relatives in the Ganga, either unable to secure space in the choked crematories or too poor to pay the “Rs 14,000-15,000” bribes sought by cremation ground managers.

“Covid is killing people in large numbers here. At least 40 bodies are now lined up at the Mahadev Ghat in Chausa. I believe many of them may eventually be thrown into the river.”

Several Chausa residents, who spoke before cameras with their faces masked, told PTI the lockdown had created a shortage of firewood and other cremation materials.

“Many bereaved families have no option other than immersing the bodies in the river,” a resident said.

Another said that administration officials often refused to hand over Covid patients’ bodies to their families, promising to perform the last rites themselves while observing the pandemic protocols.

“But the officials later develop cold feet and, fearing they might catch the infection, dump the bodies in the river and flee,” he told PTI.

Akash Mishra, a farmer and social worker from Buxar, told this newspaper over the phone: “I was there on Monday morning and counted at least 50 bodies.”

He said some of the bodies were half-burnt, suggesting they were dumped in the river midway during cremation — either because the firewood ran out or because the crematory assistants wanted to clear the queues.

Buxar SDO K.K. Upadhyay said “10-12 corpses” had come floating “from a distance of four-five days” and that they had been fished out and would be cremated.

M.P. Singh, district magistrate of the Uttar Pradesh district of Ghazipur, which adjoins Buxar, said: “Some corpses were spotted in the Ganga in Ghazipur. We are trying to find out where they came from.”

Ram Dheeraj, who runs a school in the Gahmar area of Ghazipur, said: “You can see six-seven bodies floating in the Ganga in Gahmar every day. The number of bodies arriving at the cremation ground along the river has risen from 4-5 to 30-40 a day. There are just two assistants and not enough firewood. Obviously, they can’t cremate all the bodies.”

He added: “There’s a tradition here to immerse dead pregnant woman or those killed by snakebite. So, people are used to it and are resorting to it amid the pandemic.”