An train yesterday killed 14 migrant workers in India who had fallen asleep on the tracks while they were heading back to their home village after losing their jobs amid the nation’s lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, police said.
Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from India’s big cities after being laid off because of the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus since late March.
The driver tried to stop the freight train when he saw the workers on the tracks in the western state of Maharashtra, the Indian Ministry of Railways said, adding that it had ordered an inquiry.
Photo: Reuters
Fourteen people were killed and five were injured, railway spokesman C.H. Rakesh said.
“I have just heard the sad news about laborers coming under the train, rescue work is under way,” Indian Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal wrote on Twitter.
Under the lockdown, all public transport has been suspended, so migrant workers heading home often have to walk long distances to get there.
The government has extended the lockdown until May 17.
Police said that the laborers worked for a steel company and were walking to their village in neighboring Madhya Pradesh.
“They had been walking all night, they were exhausted and fell asleep on the tracks,” a police officer said.
Because of the lockdown, they were probably not expecting any trains to be moving, an official said.
India’s eight-week lockdown, one of the world’s most stringent, has helped contain the coronavirus officials say, but it has hit poor people hard.
Criticism has mounted over how Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has arranged planes to bring back Indians from overseas, while leaving laborers stranded in big cities with little food or cash.
Modi said on Twitter that he was anguished by the loss of lives in the train incident and all possible assistance was being provided.
“Shocked by the deaths of migrant workers hit by train. We should be ashamed of how we treat our nation-builders,” said Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party.
Over the past week, some state governments organized trains and buses to bring back migrant laborers.
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