A crematorium in Bhopal on Sunday immersed the ashes of 57 coronavirus victims in the Narmada river as the family members of these deceased failed to collect their cremated remains for months, its office-bearers said.

Madhya Pradesh has so far registered 10,518 COVID-19 deaths, most of them during the second wave of the pandemic.

"Vishram Ghat Trust and Sewa Sanskar Samiti on Sunday immersed the ashes of 57 persons, who died due to COVID-19 but their ashes were not collected by their families after the funerary rituals," Shobhraj Sukhwani, manager of Subhash Nagar Vishram Ghat (crematorium) told PTI.

He said the family members of these deceased had failed to collect the ashes due to the pandemic situation.

"So, after waiting for months, the asthiyan (cremated remains) were collected and immersed in the Narmada river in Hoshangabad with all the rituals," he said.

Vishram Ghat Trust president Ramesh Sharma Guttu said the priests performed all Hindu rituals before the immersion of ashes in the river.

"We will also hold 'tarpan' ritual for the peace of the departed souls," he said.

In July this year, the management committee of Bhopal's Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat had decided to develop a park using 21 truckloads of ashes of those who died due to COVID-19 infection during the second wave of the pandemic.

The decision to develop a park on 12,000 sq ft of land was taken after their relatives failed to collect them.