Son forced to tie dad’s body on car to get him to crematorium during India’s Covid crisis – World News
A son was forced to drive to a crematorium with his dad’s body strapped to the roof of his car due to chronic ambulance shortages during India’s Covid crisis.
The appalling scene left many people in tears with the man performing last rites hours after he was unable to get help from emergency services, according to India Today.
It’s understood the son travelled to a crematorium in Agra, a city of 1.6 million in the northern state of Utter Pradesh.
The region has been grappling with India’s record surge in cases, with Agra alone reporting more than 600 cases daily.
Due to a shortage of ambulances, people are having to wait for nearly six hours to carry bodies of Covid victims to the cremation ground.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Agra is struggling with the second outbreak and a collapsing infrastructure, with local politicians blaming the ruling BJP for its handling of the pandemic.
Private hospitals in Agra are not admitting patients and the neighbouring districts of Mainpuri, Firozabad and Mathura are sending critical patients to the city.
It comes as infections in India hit a world record peak on Monday (352,991) for the fifth consecutive day and deaths reached an all-time high of more than 2,800.
During a second wave described as a “tsunami”, Covid sufferers have been dying on the streets as they search for hospitals with open beds.
One person is dying every four minutes in the capital, where nearly all intensive care unit beds are occupied.
Hospitals in New Delhi have sent SOS messages for resources, saying they were unable to cope with the rush of patients.
In the capital and other cities that are struggling, bodies have tragically been burnt in makeshift facilities offering mass services.
So many are being cremated in the capital that the authorities are receiving requests to start cutting down trees in parks to be used as kindling.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said the Covid-19 pressures in India were becoming “unbearable” and that the UK would “do everything we can to alleviate their suffering”.
He told Sky News on Monday: “The United Kingdom is going to send to India oxygen compressors and ventilators, things that are really needed in the now.
“If you remember, we commissioned a huge number of ventilators to alleviate the pressure on our hospitals – it is only right that we share and help them in their time of need.”
