Boy, five, with terminal cancer, drowns as his family forcibly immerses him in the Ganges River in India in an attempt to cure him
- In northern India, a young child died after being held under water for too long
- The Ganges is considered sacred by Hindus and has medicinal properties
In India, tragedy struck when a five-year-old boy diagnosed with terminal cancer drowned as his family tried to cure him with water from the Ganges River.
Police say the child, who had leukemia, died after his parents immersed him in the river that flows through northern India in a superstitious attempt to cure him.
The family had reportedly traveled to Haridwar from their home in Delhi on Tuesday to perform the ceremony and pray for the unnamed victim.
Their taxi driver said the child was accompanied by his parents and a female relative identified as his aunt Local media.
The driver said the boy looked “extremely ill” and doctors in the capital had given up trying to save him, leading the family to take more desperate measures.
Bystanders watched as the family held the child underwater in the hope of finding a 'miracle cure'
Some passed by and one (center of photo) appeared to intervene and pull the child away
A video shared locally showed the parents later singing prayers as his “aunt” held him underwater.
Bystanders reportedly told the family to stop as they continued to hold the boy under water, which is considered sacred to Hindus.
Some intervened when the family refused. Video showed the “aunt” attempting to attack onlookers as they tried to pull the child from the water.
The child was pulled from the water and taken to hospital, where doctors formally announced that he had died.
In one clip, the boy's 'aunt' can be seen shouting that the child will come back to life.
The family members have all been taken into custody for questioning, police said.
Haridwar city police chief Swantantra Kumar said, “It seems they brought the boy here because they believed that Ganga snan [cleansing] would cure him.'
The Ganges River, which played a central role in the history of India's founding, has enduring religious and cultural significance for Hindus.
Believers bathe in the river and consider it the embodiment of all sacred waters in religious mythology.
The river is believed to have spiritual properties, able to wash away sin and absorb impurities.
Dying on the banks of the river, or being cremated nearby, would also guarantee immediate rescue.
The man in the hat is then seen apparently taking the child away from the desperate family
A woman, identified as the child's aunt, shouted for the boy to come back to life
During the pandemic, thousands of bodies may have been seen floating in the river as families returned to the practice of immersing the deceased in the holy water of the Ganges.
Others left the bodies of relatives on the river's sandbanks.
Despite advances in industry and technology across the country, 90 percent of India's population still lives without health insurance.
An increase in life expectancy and a declining mortality rate will put further pressure on India's healthcare system in the coming years – a trend that the state wants to match with major investments in public healthcare.