Thread by @thecaravanindia

Updates from our reporters, @chahat_rana1 and @shahidtantray, reporting from Surat on Gujarat's #COVID-19 crisis:

Ambulances and private vehicles carrying bodies of people who died of COVID-19 lined up outside the Kurukshetra crematorium in Jehangirpura on 15 April.

#COVID19 #Gujarat

Naresh Patidar works at a tea stall in Surat. On 15 April he boarded a bus back to his village. He said all business had shut down in the city and no one had money to pay workers like him. He worried that if he waited any longer he would have to walk home, like he did last year.

Smoke from the chimneys attached to gas furnaces at the Ashwini Kumar crematorium in Surat. Grills of two furnaces here melted due to continuous use to cremate COVID-19 casualties. Families waited up to eight hours to get their relatives cremated.

Bodies of people who died from COVID-19 piled up inside a makeshift shed behind the Ashwini Kumar crematorium in Surat. On 15 April, at least 140 bodies were cremated following COVID-19 protocol here.

Video by @shahidtantray.
#COVID19 #Gujarat

Relatives and crematorium workers perform last rites for a COVID-19 deceased at the Ashwini Kumar crematorium. Many bodies were cremated without funeral rites. Some bodies were abandoned.

Video by @shahidtantray.
#COVID19 #Gujarat

Bodies of people who died from COVID-19 piled up inside a makeshift shed behind the Ashwini Kumar crematorium in Surat. On 15 April, at least 140 bodies were cremated following COVID-19 protocol here.

Relatives and crematorium workers perform last rites for a COVID-19 deceased at the Ashwini Kumar crematorium. Many bodies were cremated without funeral rites. Some bodies were abandoned.

Video by @shahidtantray.