As many as eight migrant workers were killed and nearly 50 others injured when the bus in which they were travelling collided with a truck near Guna town in Madhya Pradesh in the wee hours of Thursday.
The accident took place between 3 am and 4 am when the victims were on their way to Uttar Pradesh border from Maharashtra, Cantt police station in-charge Madan Mohan Malviya said.
The injured persons were rushed to a nearby district hospital.
The truck was travelling from Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh with around 70 labourers when the accident happened
Policemen involved in the rescue work were later quarantined in the wake of the COVID-19 scare, another police official said.
This came hours after six migrants were killed and two injured after allegedly being run over by a state transport bus while they were walking towards Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh late on Wednesday night.
The victims were migrant workers from Bihar and were walking home.
The bus was not carrying any passengers at the time of the accident.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced Rs 2 Lakh ex gratia to next of the kin of the each deceased and a compensation of Rs 50,000 each to injured in the Muzaffarnagar accident. Officers have been directed to send bodies of the workers to Bihar, while Saharanpur Divisional Commissioner has been asked to submit report after investigation.
Meanwhile, the accused driver in the Muzaffarnagar bus accident, who was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, has been arrested, SSP Abhishek Yadav told PTI.
Road accidents involving migrants have been on a rise as the workers have resorted to desperate means to reach home amidst the lockdown imposed to curb the Coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, four migrants died in separate accidents in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
On Saturday night, at least six migrant labourers were killed and 14 others injured when a truck in which they were travelling overturned in Madhya Pradesh’s Narsinghpur district.
On May 8, 16 migrants, who were sleeping on the railway tracks while returning to their native places in Madhya Pradesh amid the Coronavirus-induced lockdown, were crushed to death after they were run over by a goods train between Maharashtra’s Jalna and Aurangabad
Amid the nationwide lockdown, thousands of daily wagers and other migrants have undertaken epic journeys to reach home — walking, cycling and hitching rides when they could — in the absence of any public transport.
The nationwide lockdown, which began on March 25, was first extended till April 14, then till May 3 and finally till May 17 with a few relaxations built in. The unprecedented move to stem the spread of COVID-19 triggered possibly the biggest movement of people since Partition.
According to a report by SaveLIFE Foundation, 30 per cent of the victims of road accidents over the course of the two phases of the nationwide lockdown between March 24 and May 3 have been migrants.
Despite the Centre allowing special trains for stranded migrants who wish to return to their native places, the sheer numbers are overwhelming and many of them are taking the unofficial route of private vehicles or are trekking for hundreds of kilometres in the summer heat.