25 migrant workers killed in truck collision in UP; PM calls incident 'tragic'

At least 25 migrants were killed and 40 others injured when a trailer and a stationary truck on which they had hitched rides collided on a highway in the early hours of Saturday, the latest in a string of accidents involving workers returning to their native states amid the coronavirus lockdown. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed deep sadness over the loss of lives and said the administration was making all efforts to provide relief to the affected. "The accident in Auraiya of Uttar Pradesh is very tragic. The government is carrying out relief work in full swing," the prime minister tweeted.

The PMO said an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives due to the unfortunate accident  has been approved from the PM's National Relief Fund, while Rs 50,000 each for the injured has also been approved. The state government too announced similar assistance to the victims.

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 3am and 3.30am on the Auraiya-Kanpur Dehat stretch of National Highway 19, police said.

While many of the workers were from Jharkhand and West Bengal, some were from Kushinagar in eastern 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 with 43 migrants was coming from Rajasthan, they said. 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, about 400km from New Delhi and 200km from the state capital.

The opposition Congress and Samajwadi Party hit out at the BJP government, saying it was not an accident but a "murder", and asked why it was not making adequate arrangements for the migrant labourers.

The opposition has been critical of the Centre's handling of the situation, accusing it of not doing enough to ease the hardships of the migrant workers, many of whom have lost their jobs during the lockdown which started on March 25 and wish to return to their native places.

But with public transport suspended and movement restricted, many have resorted to walking or using whatever private vehicles are available, facing immense hardships and even risking their lives. Though special trains and buses are being run, a large number of people have not been able to avail the facilities and accidents involving migrants on the move are being reported daily from various states.

Five migrant workers going to Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra were killed and 19 others injured when a truck carrying them overturned on Sagar-Kanpur Road in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning. On May 8,  sixteen workers, who were walking back home to MP, were mowed down by a goods train in Aurangabad after they fell asleep on railway tracks, prompting the Maharashtra government to announce free bus service till the borders of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh for the migrants.