Josh Kujur (52), a resident of Deogaon of Subdega block of Sundargarh district, was working as an engineer in Angul-Rengali Odisha Hydro Project.
He was found Covid positive four days ago. Since he was asymptomatic, he had remained in home isolation in his home at Rengali but he had become critical on Tuesday afternoon. When his oxygen level dropped, he was taken to Covid centre of Angul but he died on his way to hospital.
After his death, family members brought his body to Deogaon. Family members of Kujur had anticipated that the near and dear and fellow villagers would join the cremation of the body. But fearing possible transmission of virus, nobody turned up.
The body could not be taken to the graveyard for hours. Finding no other alternative, the relatives of Kujur contacted some youths of Sundargarh who are cremating bodies of Covid patients. Sidhanta Panda, Sisir Behera, Kamlesh Nathani, Bijay Hota and Deben Sahu, immediately left for Deogaon. They reached there at 1 am at night and after wearing PPE kits and putting the body inside a coffin, they took it on their shoulder and buried the same in a land there as per tradition of Christian community.