KATHMANDU, MAY 15 (Xinhua) -- Subhash Karki has been supervising the cremation of dead bodies for the last three years along the bank of Bagmati River near the holy Lord Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
But never in his life Karki, who was appointed a year ago the chief coordinator of the electric crematorium run by the Pashupati Area Development Trust, had thought he would cremate dead bodies day and night.
As the death toll from COVID-19 has been rising rapidly, he has been overworking all along. He reaches the cremation site as early as 6am and remains busy throughout the day managing dead bodies till 11pm.
Those employed to burn the dead bodies are overworked as well.
"I have hired extra manpower for three months to cremate the dead bodies and they work in shifts. They work there from the early morning of one day to early morning of another day," Karki told Xinhua.
There are three machines -- two electric and one hybrid connected to a wooden pyre -- which are operating day and night at the cremation center, according to the Pashupati Area Development Trust.
"Due to overheating of the machines for continuous burning of dead bodies, we have to stop operating the machines from time to time so that the machines do not break down," said Pradeep Dhakal, member secretary with the development trust.
In normal times, a maximum of 18 dead bodies are handled at the electric crematorium per day. "Now, we are burning 30 to 40 dead bodies by using all three machines," said Karki.
In recent days, more than 90 dead bodies have been sent to the crematorium each day, straining the facilities to their limit.
The Pashupati Area Development Trust has already set up 10 new wooden pyres along the Bagmati bank close to the electric crematorium. "Thirty-fourty new wooden pyres are being prepared," Karki said.
For more than a week, Nepal has reported over 8,000 new coronavirus cases, while hospitals facing a severe shortage of oxygen and beds are turning away patients, leading to more deaths.
"Last Tuesday, we had to manage the cremation of as many as 110 bodies, the highest number that I have ever managed in a single day," said Karki.
Under government rules, people who die from COVID-19 and are brought to the Pashupati temple area would only be cremated in electric crematorium. People dead from other reasons are being cremated on usual wooden pyres close to the temple.
On Friday, the country reported 203 new deaths, with a significant number of them from the Kathmandu Valley.
Until early March, both COVID-19 cases and deaths had come down drastically in Nepal, with the fatalities down to almost nil, but all have turned for the worse following a fresh outbreak of the virus.
Most of dead bodies from the Kathmandu Valley are brought to Pashupati area for cremation to get blessing from Lord Pashupatinath.
Karki's family live in constant fear that he may be infected with the virus as he has to stay close to dead bodies. He lives with his wife, son, mother, an elder brother and sisters.
"They are asking me to quit the job," he said. "But I am shouldering a huge responsibility that I need to fulfill." Enditem
