BHOPAL: A truck loaded with mangoes and also carrying 20 migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh turned turtle in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh on late Saturday night, killing five workers and injuring 13.
According to official sources in Narsinghpur district (200 kms from Bhopal), all the injured have been admitted at the Narsinghpur district hospital, where two migrant workers are stated to be critical.
All the 20 migrant workers on board the mango-laden truck from Hyderabad were natives of Etah and Jhansi districts of UP and were desperate to return to their homes amid the lockdown and loss of jobs.
With one of the injured migrants showing COVID-19 like symptoms, that particular worker has been isolated from other injured workers, after taking the samples of all the workers for novel Coronavirus tests. All injured are admitted at Narsinghpur district hospital.
According to additional district magistrate (ADM-Narsinghpur) Manoj Thakur, the mishap happened at around 11 pm on Saturday when the truck overturned on road near Patha village under Mungwani police station area.
Two injured workers are in very critical condition, he added.
With this incident at least ten migrant workers from UP returning home from Maharashtra and South India in trucks, by cycles or walking back in desperation to reach home have died due to illness, heat stroke or in accidents in Narsinghpur, Barwani, Shajapur, Khandwa and Rajgarh districts of MP in last two weeks.
The Saturday late-night mishap in Narsinghpur district happened just two days after 16 migrant labourers walking back from Maharashtra to MP were run over fatally by a goods train while taking rest on railway tracks in the western state's Aurangabad district.
Lakhs of migrants from different states are left stranded in other states due to the nationwide lock-down and have also lost jobs.