The bodies of India's Covid-19 victims have begun emerging from their graves after monsoon flooding washed them out.
Scores of corpses covered in saffron cloth have been spotted floating on the River Ganges as water levels have risen during the start of India's wet season.
It is thought they were washed out of shallow sand graves along the banks of the river after strong currents swept them into the river at the Phaphamau ghat, near a cremation ground in Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Families in the north and east of India are believed to have buried loved ones along the river because they could not afford proper funerals, which can cost more than 7,000 rupees (£68), at the height of the Covid outbreak in April and May.
Dozens of bodies were also found in surrounding stretches of the 1,550-mile river, reports AFP.
Shallow graves have been discovered all along the Ganges, and it is thought India's shocking Covid death toll of 396,000 could actually be far higher. Some are suggesting the figure could be closer to two million.
India has been gripped by one of the world's deadliest coronavirus outbreaks.
With crematoriums and hospitals overwhelmed by the recent surge in infections, the authorities in the city of Allahabad said about 150 bodies that have been retrieved from the river in the last three weeks have now been cremated.
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Several funeral pyres have been set up along the riverbank in preparation for more bodies being swept into the water.
Officials believe up to 600 corpses were buried along the Ganges, the Mail reports.
But residents fear many more remain in shallow graves and could emerge in the rains intensify in the coming weeks.
Local Sonu Chandel told the Mail: "It was really sad to see poor people burying their loved ones in an undignified manner, but the rising water level has made it worse.
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"There is always the fear of (a body) hitting the oar or (my boat) running over a dead body as the water level goes up."
There are also concerns the bodies could pollute the Ganges – already one of the world's most contaminated rivers.
The Ganges is considered to be one of the holiest sites in India. Pilgrims traditionally bathe in the water, while millions of Hindus have traditionally cremated their loved ones along its banks, even before the pandemic struck, and scattered their ashes in it.
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Those who couldn't afford firewood would place their dead in the water.
Police and officials continue their search for bodies in the river, but have struggled with strong currents in recent days.
Dr Murad Banaji, a mathematician at Middlesex University, told the Hindu Times the country's real death toll could be around five times the reported figure.
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