No one attends funeral of coronavirus victim

Dhangadi, June 18

A 46-year-old transportation entrepreneur of Godavari Municipality, who was infected with COVID-19 and died at the Seti Provincial Hospital last evening had made it a point to attend the funeral of almost everyone he knew, but when it was his funeral, nobody attended.

Given his COVID-19-infected status, even his own family members bid him adieu from afar.

The deceased was a Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leader, but he never limited himself to political activities.

He participated in every social function held in his village until he was diagnosed with the virus.

Following the diagnosis, his family tried their best to take him to Kathmandu for treatment.

They requested both the local, provincial and federal governments for a helicopter or an air ambulance.

Finally, a small aircraft was managed to fly him to Kathmandu on Thursday.

Before he could be flown to the Capital, he breathed his last in the hospital last evening, at 7:52pm.

He was being treated on a ventilator.

Following his death, condolences are pouring in for the bereaved family. However, there was not a single person from among his kin present next to the body and no one to carry out the final rites.

When the body was cremated on the banks of the Mohana River in Dhangadi Sub-metropolitan City this afternoon, there were just 10 people from his family who were watching from a distance.

A Nepali Army team, trained in disposing dead bodies infected with COV- ID-19, cremated the body on behalf of the family.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 19, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.