Cremations halted over oil shortage from the Iran war: Never seen anything like this

Even the dead aren’t immune to the oil shortage sparked by the Iran war.Gas-based cremations are now being halted in parts of several predominantly Buddhist and Hindi countries because of worsening fuel shortages triggered by the ongoing conflict, according to reports.The largest crematorium in India’s state of Maharashtra was forced to temporarily stop all gas-fired cremations because of the scarcity of fuel, India Now magazine reported.Vaikunth Dham, located in the city of Pune, relies on three gas-fired furnaces to carry out its sacred funeral services.The facility said it will rely on electric and wood-based cremations moving forward.It currently only has enough liquefied petroleum gas to carry out two more cremations — a stark drop from the 20 it averages per day.Meanwhile, a Buddhist temple in Thailand’s Chachoengsao province — Wat Saman Rattanaram — warned it may soon have to halt services, too, amid the scramble to obtain diesel needed to conduct the religious ceremonies.“In more than 50 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” the temple’s abbot, Phra Ratchwachiraprachanart, told Bloomberg on Tuesday.“It’s not just us.Many temples are facing this same problem.”The temple, which is located 50 miles east of Bangkok, only had about 53 gallons of fuel left as of Tuesday — enough for just two cremations.The escalating Iran war has been pushing parts of the world into energy triage, with governments forced to decide where to cut demand or absorb higher costs as they prioritize dwindling supplies.Asia is among the most hard hit given it relies heavily on imported fuel, much of which is shipped through the now-blocked Strait of Hormuz.Governments in the region are scrambling to adjust by tallying oil reserves, conserving energy, competing for supplies and trying to blunt prices. They are also urging households, businesses and government agencies to slash power use.With Post wires...