Five migrant labourers were killed and 17 injured when a truck carrying them overturned at the Sagar and Chhatarpur border in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning.
The labourers were reportedly on their way from Maharashtra and were headed towards Uttar Pradesh. Those injured in the mishap were rushed to Banda Primary Health Centre in Sagar district.
Senior officials from Sagar and Chhatarpur district reached the accident site and helped the injured. The cause of the accident is not yet clear.
Most migrant labourers coming from Maharashtra pass through MP in large numbers regularly. Despite the state government’s claims of offering them proper facilities, they are forced to take unsafe modes like goods-laden trucks, autorickshaws, cycles apart from completing major portions of their journey on foot.
Score of migrant workers have fallen sick or died on their way home, either from fatigue or in accidents, underscoring the extreme risks the poor have been exposed to under measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
At least 24 migrant labourers lost their lives and 36 people sustained injuries when a trailer truck carrying them collided with a DCM vehicle in the early hours of Saturday in Uttar Pradesh, police said.