Lockdown: 8 Labourers Dead, 54 Injured in Road Accident in MP

The deceased were reportedly on their way to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra amid the lockdown.

(Photo Courtesy: ANI)

Eight labourers were killed and as many as 54 injured after the truck they were travelling in collided with a bus in Madhya Pradesh's Guna in the wee hours of Thursday, 14 May, ANI reported.

The deceased were reportedly on their way to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra amid the lockdown.

The accident took place between 3 am and 4 am when the victims were on their way to the UP border from Maharashtra, Cantt police station in-charge Madan Mohan Malviya said, reported PTI.

The injured were rushed to the district hospital.

“Eight labourers lost their lives and 54 others were injured. The injured are being treated at the district hospital. Postmortem and further investigation are underway.”

TS Baghel, ASP Guna, as quoted by ANI

Policemen involved in the rescue work were later quarantined in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, another police official was cited by PTI as saying.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 2 lakh each ex gratia to the next of the kin of the workers from UP who died, and a compensation of Rs 50,000 each announced for the critically injured. Officers were asked to bring bodies of the deceased to their relatives and families in the state, the CM's office said, according to ANI.

Two Other Incidents in UP and Bihar

In a separate incident just hours earlier, six migrant workers were killed near Muzaffarnagar after being run over by an Uttar Pradesh state bus late on Wednesday. The victims are said to have been trying to walk their way back home to Gopalganj in Bihar from Punjab, where they were working as labourers.

In another incident in Bihar, at least two people died and 12 were injured in a bus-truck collision in Samastipur. According to ANI, the bus was en route to Katihar from Muzaffarpur and was carrying 32 migrant labourers.

Just days earlier, a freight train had run over 14 migrant labourers in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district. The workers, who were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna, were returning to Madhya Pradesh.