India Cremates Cyclone Dead; Toll Climbs to at Least 655

Forced to abandon Hindu ritual for fear of spreading disease, government workers Thursday burned the bodies of hundreds of salt workers killed in the Kutch district during a cyclone.

The death toll from Tuesday’s severe storms in Gujarat state has been mounting by the hour. Indian rescue officials said they had recovered 655 bodies.

With some of the bodies lying in the streets in oppressive heat, officials said they were unable to preserve the bloated corpses.

The decision to burn the bodies violates the Hindu tradition of allowing the eldest son of the deceased to light the pyre.

“We photographed the bodies for identification later,” said Pravin Lehri, a top government official in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital.

The government blamed poor weather forecasting for the high death toll. The cyclone flattened almost 8,000 homes and huts; losses were estimated at $284 million.

On Thursday, army helicopters dropped food packages to villages where at least 30,000 people were living in relief camps.

Food and drinking water have not yet reached many villages, and aid workers warned of disease.

Lehri said Gujarat suffered most in the cyclone, with 646 people killed--by lightning, wall collapses or drowning. The cyclone weakened Wednesday when it moved north, leaving nine dead in Rajasthan state and 12 more in neighboring Pakistan.