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Amid India's COVID-19 surge, dozens of dead bodies found floating in Ganges River

India gets life-saving oxygenators from U.S.
Life-saving oxygenator machines from U.S. arrive in India, head to Delhi ICU desperate for air 02:46

Scores of dead bodies have been found floating down the Ganges River in eastern India as the country battles a ferocious surge in coronavirus infections. Authorities said Tuesday they haven't yet determined the cause of death.

Health officials working through the night Monday retrieved 71 bodies, officials in Bihar state said.

Images on social media of the bodies floating in the river prompted outrage and speculation that they died from COVID-19. Authorities performed postmortems on Tuesday but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to the decomposition of the bodies.

More corpses were found floating in the river on Tuesday, washing up in Ghazipur district in neighboring Uttar Pradesh state. Police and villagers were at the site, about 30 miles from Monday's incident.

"We are trying to find out where did these dead bodies come from? How did they get here?" said Mangla Prasad Singh, a local official.

This frame grab from video provided by KK Productions shows police officials stand guard at the banks of the Ganges River, where several bodies were found, in Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh state, India, May 11, 2021.
This frame grab from video provided by KK Productions shows police officials stand guard at the banks of the Ganges River, where several bodies were found, in Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh state, India, May 11, 2021. KK Productions via AP

Surinder, a resident of Ghazipur who uses one name, said villagers didn't have enough wood to cremate their dead on land.

"Due to the shortage of wood, the dead are being buried in the water," he said. "Bodies from around 12-13 villages have been buried in the water."

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are experiencing rising COVID-19 cases as infections in India grow faster than anywhere else in the world.

As CBS News' Chris Livesay has found in the sprawling Indian capital, a simple lack of oxygen is killing thousands of people infected with COVID.

Desperate family members line up for days to refill oxygen tanks, but with shortages that have taken a deadly toll for weeks persisting, many leave empty-handed. Some American donors are trying to help fill the gap.

On Tuesday, the country confirmed nearly 390,000 new cases, including 3,876 more deaths. Overall, India has had the second-highest number of confirmed cases after the U.S. with nearly 23 million and over 240,000 deaths. All of the figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.

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