Six migrants, driver die in road accidents in UP, Maharashtra

Three migrant labourers and a bus driver were killed and 22 others were injured after their vehicle hit a stationary truck in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district in the early hours of Tuesday (May 19), PTI reported.

The accident occurred at Kolwan village at around 3.30 am when the bus was on way from Solapur to Nagpur railway station where the labourers were supposed to board a Shramik Special train to reach their native places in Jharkhand, Additional Superintendent of Police Noorul Hasan said.

The bus driver lost control over the wheels following which the vehicle hit a stationary truck which was carrying road construction material, he said.

The injured have been rushed to a hospital.

In another incident, three women died and 17 others were injured after a truck carrying migrant labourers overturned on the Jhansi-Mirzapur highway in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh late on Monday night.

The accident took place late at Mahuva crossing, district SP Mani Lal Patidar told PTI on Tuesday (May 19). He said the labourers had boarded the truck near Harpalpur along the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border after a long walk from Delhi. The truck overturned into a roadside ditch after a tyre burst, killing the three women on the spot, the SP said. The deceased were aged between 30 and 38 years. The injured have been admitted to a government hospital. The truck has been seized and investigations are on, the SP added.

The COVID-induced reverse migration of labourers has seen many of them being killed in road accidents. Recently, as many as 24 migrant labourers were killed after the truck they were travelling in had a head on collision with another in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya.

(With inputs from agencies)