Tibetans cremate their dead as toll passes 1,000

Tibetans cremated their dead on Saturday after a massive earthquake struck a remote part of China earlier in the week, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving thousands huddled in the cold in makeshift tents. 

The official Xinhua news agency said the death toll had now reached 1,144 with 417 still listed as missing, following the 6.9 magnitude temblor which struck Wednesday in Yushu county in western Qinghai province, high on the Tibetan plateau.                                           

More than 1,000 people are seriously injured, though many have been flown out to larger cities for treatment, and others remain buried beneath crumpled buildings, Xinhua said.

Shortly after dawn, Buddhist monks lifted hundreds of bodies of those killed in the earthquake into trunks, vans and cars to take them for cremation in the foothills of the town. The bodies had been assembled on a platform at the main Gyegu Monastery.                                          

Monks and other locals stood by, some muttering prayers to the dead, as the bodies wrapped in sheets and bedding were heaved into the backs of trucks.

"We must have a funeral for them in three days, that's our tradition", said Laojiang, a Tibetan Buddhist monk who had travelled to Yushu to help with quake relief.

His hands were covered in bloody bandages from digging through rubble, hunting for survivors.

"We are all Tibetans, we are all the same people," he said. "I feed very sad, but I also feel we have shown our best spirit." 

The ceremony began with a striking mix of tenderness and practicality. The wrapped bodies lay in the back of dozens of trucks like bundles of used bedding. But the monks and locals accompanying to the cremation ground muttered fervent prayers.

"This prayer is wishing that they have a good reincarnation and that their suffering is over," said Gansong Getai, a local official who had volunteered to help drive a truck with bodies in the back.

"I'm lucky that my family wasn't hurt, so I felt I should help."

The convoy arrived on a grassy hillside above the town.

Monks lowered bodies from 10 or so trucks. The bodies were placed on platforms above two trenches dug into the hillside, with wood and tyres in the trenches for the cremation.

Hundreds of blue canisters of yak oil stood waiting to be used for the cremation.  

On a slope facing the trenches, dozens of monks droned prayers to the dead.

Many bystanders were in tears. Ginga Nima said he did not know if any of his missing kin were among the corpses.

"It's best that it's done this way," he said. "This way it's a proper Buddhist funeral and we know the monks will take care."