25 migrants killed, 40 injured as trailer hits truck in UP dist
■ PMO announces ex-gratia for victims, 2 SHOs suspended
Auraiya (UP), May 16: At least 25 migrant workers were killed and 40 others injured when a trailer and a stationary truck on which they had hitched rides collided on a highway near here in the early hours of Saturday, the latest in a string of accidents involving migrants returning to their states amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Most of the victims were sitting on sacks of lime powder loaded on the trailer, and were crushed when the vehicles overturned and fell into a ditch following the crash near an eatery between 3 am and 3.30 am on the Auraiya-Kanpur Dehat stretch of National Highway 19, the police said. While many of the workers were from Jharkhand and West Bengal, some were from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, they said. “In the accident, most of the labourers were crushed under these bags, which were on the trailer, and died. Some of them succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital,” district magistrate Abhishek Singh said, adding all the deceased were men.
The truck, which was
going from Delhi to Madhya Pradesh, had stopped at the eatery as some workers wanted to have tea. It was carrying around 22 people, including five women and seven children, officials said.
The trailer was coming from Rajasthan, they said.
Earlier, officials had said that the trailer was carrying sacks of wheat flour. Both the vehicles were ferrying people who found themselves without jobs, money or food during the lockdown and
were desperate to get back home. While 25 people have died, 15 seriously injured have been admitted to a hospital in Saifai in Etawah district. The rest have been hospitalised in Auraiya. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed deep sadness over the loss of lives. The Prime Minister’s Office has announced an ex gratia payment of `2 lakh each to the next of kin of the migrant workers killed in the accident.
Meanwhile, CM Yogi Adityanath on Saturday directed suspension of SHOs of two police stations and said that stern warning be issued to the circle officers concerned with the area. “The chief minister has said that directions have been given to all the border areas to ensure that no person travels by unsafe means such as trucks,” said the state government.