Grieving son had to carry dead mum’s body on bike as India’s Covid crisis spirals

A grieving son drove his dead mother to the crematorium on his motorbike in India as the rampant Covid crisis caused a shortage of ambulances.

Devastated Narendra Chenchu sandwiched her body between himself and brother-in-law Ramesh for nine miles — and was told to ‘go easy’ when he was stopped by police.

His mother, who was in her 50s and known as G Chenchu, had tested positive for coronavirus just hours before her death and had passed away while going to hospital.

The second wave of the virus has crippled India in recent weeks, with Delhi state reporting one Covid death every four minutes. There is a severe shortage of ambulances, forcing locals to find their own means of transport.

Mr Chenchu said police stopped him as he drove his bike to the crematorium in Andhra Pradesh and asked what had happened to his mother.

He explained that all ambulances were full of Covid-19 victims and they told him to ‘go easy’ and waved him on.

‘I can’t wish this upon anyone,’ Mr Chenchu said. ‘It is going to haunt me every time, whenever I will ride this motorcycle.’

India this week became the fourth country in the world to surpass 200,000 Covid-19 related deaths. The death toll rose by 3,645 yesterday and there were 375,000 new infections.

Amid a huge surge in cases and record deaths in recent weeks, the country is running out of hospital beds and is low on oxygen to treat patients.

Dr Ashita Singh, of Chinchpada Christian Hospital in Maharashtra state, told BBC Radio Four: ‘[There is] a lot of dependence on indigenous medicine, in ancient beliefs.

‘We have a lot of patients who are on our wards right now who have marks on their abdomen because they first went to the witch doctor — who gave them hot iron branding in the hope that the evil spirit that is supposed to be causing this illness will be exorcised.

‘[The witch doctor] is their first port of call. Only a small proportion come to the hospital. Most go to the witch doctor or the indigenous practitioner.’

Meanwhile, a charity group has launched an appeal urging Brits to help tackle the Covid crisis sweeping India.

The Disasters Emergency Committee has called for funds for PPE, medical supplies, ambulances and isolation facilities as virus cases overwhelm hospitals in the country.

The group brings together UK organisations including the Indian Red Cross Society, ActionAid, Oxfam India and Save the Children.

Member charities have also pledged to provide temporary hospitals, ventilators and oxygen concentrators — while other groups, including the British Asian Trust, launched their own appeals.

Save the Children warned millions of children in India risk poverty and hunger in the virus surge. Youngsters with lost family incomes may have to work — with those out of school at risk of child marriage and exploitation.

The charity’s Sudarshan Suchi said: ‘The surge in Covid-19 infections is forcing strict lockdown measures that have left many families without a source of income, pulling millions of children below the poverty line, and the poorest into even deeper poverty.’

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