6 migrants die in MP accident
BHOPAL/JABALPUR: Six migrant workers were killed and 12 injured when the truck they were travelling in overturned in Madhya Pradesh late on Saturday, police officials familiar with the matter said.
According to police, the group of 15 labourers, including 14 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Madhya Pradesh, was travelling to Agra from Telangana’s Hyderabad in a truck carrying raw mangoes when the accident took place in Narsinghpur district, around 240 kilometers from state capital Bhopal.
“Five of the labourers were killed on the spot while another died during treatment at a hospital in Jabalpur. All the deceased labourers belonged to Uttar Pradesh. They have been identified as Nihal Singh, 40, Ranvir Lodhi, 42, Nem Singh, 38, Indresh Pandey,40, Chhotu Tiwari,40, and Sandip Dixit, 42” Narsinghpur additional superintendent of police Rajesh Tiwari said. He added that they were trying to ascertain how the accident took place.
They were engaged as labourers, mainly at construction sites and factories.
Gurukaran Singh, superintendent of police, Narsinghpur, said that they do not have knowledge of any payment made to the driver or owner of the truck. The truck driver or owner was perhaps known to some of these labourers, said Singh.
Apart from the migrant workers, the truck’s driver and cleaner were also injured in the accident and undergoing treatment, officials said.
Yogesh Kumar, of Hinona in Etah district, said they had been quarantined in Hyderabad. After quarantine, they didn’t have enough money for food, due to which they decided to return home, Kumar said. The officials from district administration said one of the injured labourers showed symptoms of the cold.
Dr R Tiwari, superintendent of the teaching hospital of Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur said, “One of the two labourers who were referred to our hospital had symptoms of cold. His sample had been taken in Narsinghpur itself. He was admitted here in an isolation ward but he left the hospital without telling anyone.”
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed the incident as unfortunate and said: “The truck accident in Narsinghpur has claimed several precious lives. The untimely deaths and grievous injuries have caused me immense pain. I pray their souls rest in peace and their families get the strength to overcome their grief.”
On Friday, 16 migrant workers were run over by a freight train near Maharashtra’s Aurangabad as they slept on train tracks after a long journey on foot in an attempt to find transport to go back to their home towns in Madhya Pradesh. The incident triggered widespread discussions on the need to ensure safe travel for migrants to their home towns amid the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus pandemic.