Scores of dead bodies have been found floating down the Ganges River in eastern India as the country battles a ferocious surge in coronavirus infections.
Health officials working through the night on Monday retrieved 71 bodies, officials in Bihar state say.
Images on social media of the bodies floating in the river prompted outrage and speculation that they died from COVID-19.
Authorities performed autopsies on Tuesday but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to the decomposition of the bodies.
More corpses were found floating in the river on Tuesday, washing up in Ghazipur district in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state.
Police and villagers were at the site, about 50 kilometres from Monday's incident.
Surinder, a resident of Ghazipur who uses one name, said villagers did not have enough wood to cremate their dead on land.
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are experiencing rising COVID-19 cases as infections in India grow faster than anywhere else in the world.
India has had the second-highest number of confirmed cases after the US, with nearly 23 million and more than 240,000 deaths.
Australian Associated Press
