Jenazah Korban Covid-19 India Bermunculan di Sungai Gangga

India`s Covid Dead Emerge from Their Graves beside Holy River

Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi


Jenazah Korban Covid-19 India Bermunculan di Sungai Gangga
MENYERAMKAN: Penduduk setempat takut mayat-mayat itu, jika tidak dipindahkan, berisiko mencemari lebih lanjut apa yang sudah menjadi salah satu sungai paling tercemar di dunia [Foto2: MailOnline]

BANJIR muson mengakibatkan ratusan jenazah korban Covid-19 yang dimakamkan pada liang lahat yang dangkal bermunculan di tepi Sungai Gangga, menyusul kekhawatiran jumlah kematian akibat virus Corona di India jauh lebih tinggi ketimbang yang dilaporkan, hanya 396.000.

Mulainya banjir muson musiman mengakibatkan arus kuat menerjang sungai sepanjang 2.494 km mengeluarkan ratusan mayat yang dimakamkan pada kuburan pasir dangkal di sepanjang tepi sungai.

Mayat, yang diyakini sebagai korban meninggal akibat Covid-19, diselimuti kain safron terlihat mengambang di sungai Gangga di Phaphamau gat dekat tempat kremasi di Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Keluarga di utara dan timur India mengubur jenazah orang yang mereka cintai di pemakaman di sepanjang Sungai Gangga, karena mereka tidak mampu membayar biaya kremasi pada puncak wabah Covid, pada April dan Mei.

Pemandangan suram di sepanjang sungai Gangga pertama kali dimulai pada Mei ketika gelombang virus corona yang ganas di India membanjiri rumah sakit dan krematorium.

Para pejabat di Allahabad - salah satu kota suci Hindu, di mana jutaan pendatang melakukan upacara pemakaman - dikatakan hampir 150 jenazah yang mengapung dalam tiga minggu terakhir telah dikremasi.

Tumpukan kayu pemakaman diletakkan di tanggul tepi sungai di samping tumpukan kayu, menunggu mayat baru diambil dari perairan dan dikremasi.

Ada juga puluhan mayat yang sebagian terendam di sungai di daerah sekitarnya, menurut AFP seperti dikutip MailOnline.

Para pejabat memperkirakan bahwa hingga 600 mayat dimakamkan di sepanjang Sungai Gangga di Allahabad selama puncak krisis Covid di India.

Namun penduduk setempat percaya bahwa itu hanya  sebagian kecil dari angka sebenarnya dan mengaku khawatir bahwa lebih banyak lagi yang bisa bermunculan dari tepian berpasir oleh air yang deras dalam beberapa pekan ke depan.

Sonu Chandel, seorang tukang perahu yang bekerja di tepi krematorium di tepi sungai, mengatakan dia sangat terkejut mendapati warga memilih menguburkan jenazah korban Covid-19 dua bulan lalu.

Dia mengakui kembali tidak nyaman mendapati jenazah bermunculan di tepi sungai, katanya: 'Sungguh menyedihkan melihat orang miskin mengubur orang yang mereka cintai dengan cara yang tidak bermartabat, tetapi kemudian jenazah tersebut muncul ke permukaan air lebih memprihatinkan.

'Selalu ada ketakutan (jenazah) menabrak dayung atau (perahu saya) menabrak mayat saat permukaan air naik.'

Pusat-pusat keagamaan besar lainnya di India utara, seperti pusat keagamaan Varanasi lebih jauh ke hilir, telah mengalami masalah serupa.

Penduduk setempat takut mayat-mayat itu, jika tidak dipindahkan, berisiko mencemari lebih lanjut apa yang sudah menjadi salah satu sungai paling tercemar di dunia.

'Ini... dapat menyebabkan penyakit berbahaya,' kata Dipin Kumar, yang tinggal di dekat Sungai Gangga di Allahabad.

'Pemerintah harus memikirkan ini dan hanya mereka yang bisa membuat rencana.'

MONSOON flooding has revealed the shallow graves of suspected Covid-19 victims as bodies have floated along the Ganges following fears India's death toll is much higher than the 396,000 reported.

The start of seasonal monsoon flooding has caused strong currents to surge through the 1,550-mile long waterway, dislodging some of the bodies buried in shallow sand graves along its banks.

Bodies, which are believed to be fatalities from Covid-19, shrouded in saffron cloth have been seen floating down the Ganges river at the Phaphamau ghat near a cremation ground in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Families in India's north and east buried the bodies of their loved ones in graves along the Ganges as they were unable to afford the cost of funeral pyres at the height of the Covid outbreak in April and May.

The grim scenes along the Ganges river first started in May as India's ferocious coronavirus wave overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.

Officials in Allahabad - one of Hinduism's holiest cities, where millions visit to perform funeral rites - say almost 150 bodies that floated up in the past three weeks have been cremated.

Funeral pyres sit on riverside embankments beside piles of wood, waiting for new bodies to be retrieved from the waters and cremated.

There were also dozens of corpses partially submerged in the river in surrounding areas, according to AFP.

Officials have estimated that up to 600 bodies were buried along the Ganges in Allahabad during the height of the country's Covid crisis.

But locals believe that is just a fraction of the real figures and fear that more could be dislodged from the sandy banks by rapid waters in the coming weeks.

Sonu Chandel, a boatman who works with a riverside crematorium, said he was shaken by the sight of families burying their dead two months ago.

He said a sense of uneasiness returned to him as the waters rose to cover the banks, adding: 'It was really sad to see poor people burying their loved ones in an undignified manner, but the rising water level has made it worse.

'There is always the fear of (a body) hitting the oar or (my boat) running over a dead body as the water level goes up.'

Other major religious centres in northern India, such as the religious hub of Varanasi further downstream, have experienced similar problems.

Locals fear the corpses, if not removed, risk further contaminating what is already one of the world's most polluted waterways.

'This... could cause dangerous diseases,' Dipin Kumar, who lives near the Ganges in Allahabad, said.

'The government must think this over and only they can make a plan.'