Parents pray next to their buried children during the eclipse (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Desperate families have buried their sick children in the sand during a solar eclipse in the hope it cures them.

The children are covered up to their necks at the beach in Karachi, Pakistan, leaving their faces exposed to the ‘healing’ sun rays.

Other eclipse superstitions include no food being cooked during the astronomic event, and the ritual of taking a bath and changing into clean clothes when it ends.

Regular activities such as sleeping, urinating, defecating and having sex is also prohibited by some communities during the eclipse.

The partial solar eclipse was visible from most of Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East and Western parts of Asia.

A girl sleeps in the sand after being buried by her parents (Picture: AFP/Getty)

It is believed that the eclipse can cure children of their disabilities (Picture: AFP/Getty)

The children are buried up to their necks by desperate parents looking for a cure (Picture: Anadolu Agency/Getty)

The partial eclipse lasted for around four hours, during which the children were buried for the entire time (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Parents believe their children can be cured of their sickness or disabilities by the sun rays (Picture: AFP/Getty)

In Pakistan, the eclipse began at 1.58pm and ended at 6.20pm, with the greatest point occurring at 4pm.

This eclipse was only partial and the moon’s shadow did not touch the surface of the earth at any point, the Paris Observatory said.

It will be the 16th partial solar eclipse of the century, and the second this year.

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Desperate parents follow the superstitious belief that the sun’s rays can cure their children.