Six people died when a truck loaded with commercial consignment of fabric rolls and 20 migrant workers overturned in Buaxwaha area in Chattarpur district on Saturday morning. Disturbing visuals of the accident showed an infant crying near his mother’s body. Besides, 16 others were injured in the mishap and have been admitted at Community Health Centre in Banda in Sagar district, according to Sagar district police superintendent Amit Sanghi.
Since Sagar district is nearby, the police force from district’s two police stations rushed to the spot for rescue operations. The accident took place on Sagar-Chhatarpur Road in Buxwaha area of Chhatarpur district, about 225 kilometres from Bhopal. While five persons died on the spot, another succumbed to injury at a hospital later. The deceased included four women and two men. They worked in a shoe factory in Mumbai's Madanpura area and were returning to Siddharth Nagar, their native district in east UP, after factory closed due to lockdown.
27 UP bound workers die in 5 accidents in 6 days
This is the fifth major road accident within six days in MP in which migrant workers returning to UP from Maharashtra in the wake of nation-wide lockdown have died. So far, 27 UP bound migrant workers and kin have died in the five major road accidents in MP in last six days. The accidents occurred in Narsinghpur, Guna and Sagar districts.
This is the second time within a week that migrant workers hiding in a truck carrying commercial consignments have died in MP. On May 10, six migrant workers on a truck loaded with mangoes had died after truck overturned in Narsinghpur district.
The two mishaps have exposed how overloaded trucks are causing deaths of migrant workers. But the cops and transport department in Maharashtra and MP have failed to check overloaded trucks whose drivers are charging Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 from each migrant worker for ferrying them to UP.