533 earthquake victims cremated at ghats of Pashupatinath Temple

KATHMANDU: Over 530 bodies of victims of Nepal's devastating earthquake have been cremated at the ghats of the Pashupatinath Temple here, an official said today.

The 533 victims who were consigned to flames till yesterday include nine children.

Till date, maximum bodies were burnt on pyres, on the day after the quake struck on April 25, Nepal's worst in over 80 years.

"82 people were cremated here on the very day the deadly the earthquake hit us. It was a horrible sight. But, the next day, was even worse, when 152 bodies were brought in to the banks of the holy shrine here. Nine children have also have been cremated," Ritesh Kumar, an official at the temple's cremation assistance centre, told PTI.

Even nine days after the disaster, bodies are still being pulled out of the rubble of homes and buildings. Five earthquake victims were cremated last night.

Rows of lit funeral pyres on a full moon night, on the pious Bhashmeshwar Ghat, jolted memories of the fateful day.

Besides, several unidentified victims have also been cremated.

Funeral pyre was also lit up for one Indian national, who had died of an ailment.

"The victim's name is Pramod Mallick, and he was a 42-year-old man hailing from Bihar. But, no he wasn't a quake victim," the official said.

"We had to use the neighbouring ground to accommodate the bodies streaming in from all parts of the capital. But, the second day was even more terrifying, as we could not find places to keep bodies and cremation process had to be hastened," he added.

"On the third day, 109 victims were cremated which included three children, on April 28, sixty-two including two children and on April 29, fifty-seven of them including three children and on last day of April, 25 adults and one child," the official said.

"For first two days, the funeral pyres did not stop. It burnt all night through to the dawn," a priest at the ghat said, as he pushed the scorched wood into Bagmati.

Grey-white pungent smoke billows in the air as the open-air crematorium redolent of incense sticks still overwhelms visitors to the holy site.

The iconic temple complex, suffered some damage in few of the outer buildings in the World Heritage Site, but the sanctum sanctorum was left untouched, an incidence that has reinforced people's faith in the fifth century Hindu shrine.

"A part of the wall of the outer building collapsed but the sacred temple inside and the sanctum sanctorum are not damaged. It is Lord Shiva's blessings," said Govind Prasad Sharma, 66, who was in the temple complex on April 25.

The capital city in the Kathmandu Valley is one of the badly-affected regions in the quake-ravaged country, where the temblor, worst since the 1934 one, has killed over 7,365 people and robbed it of its architectural jewels.