Hundreds of bodies buried along banks of India's River Ganges

Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India asking them not to bury their loved ones in shallow sand graves on the banks of the Ganges River.

Rain exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on a wide, flat riverbank in Prayagraj.

While officials say the riverside burials have taken place for decades, the sheer numbers in the shadow of the pandemic are focusing more attention on the practice.

Health authorities have retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on a bank in neighbouring Bihar state.