Auraiya road accident: 23 migrant workers killed, 36 injured after two trucks collide in UP

In wake of rising incidents related to migrant labourers travelling back to their native states during the lockdown, another gruesome accident has surfaced. At least 23 migrant workers were killed and 36 seriously injured in a collision between the mini-truck and a trolley in Auraiya district, early on Saturday morning, May 16. 

At around 3:30 am when the migrant workers were on their way to their native places in different states amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the incident took place on the national highway at Mihauli under Kotwali police circle when the trolley rammed into a stationary mini-truck.

The trolley, sources said, was carrying 81 migrant workers natives of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar who were on their way from Faridabad to Gorakhpur coming from Rajashthan. Senior officials have reached the spot and the injured have been shifted to the hospital for treatment.

"15 persons who have been critically injured are being shifted to the PGI in Sefai in Etawah," District magistrate Abhishek Singh said. 

According to Circle Officer, Auraiya, Surendranath Yadav, "The accident took place in Mihauli in which 24 people died, and around 15 were injured. A trailer truck carrying around 50 migrant labourers was coming from Rajasthan and it collided with a DCM truck. The accident took place on Saturday between 3.00 am and 3.30 am." 

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath expresses grief

Taking to Twitter, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath expressed grief, he tweeted, "The death of migrant workers in a road accident in Auraiya district is unfortunate and sad, my condolences to the bereaved families of the dead. Instructions have also been given to provide all possible relief to the victims, to provide proper treatment to the injured and to promptly investigate the accident."

जनपद औरैया में सड़क दुर्घटना में प्रवासी कामगारों/श्रमिकों की मृत्यु दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण एवं दुःखद है, मेरी संवेदनाएं मृतकों के शोक संतप्त परिजनों के साथ हैं।

पीड़ितों को हर संभव राहत प्रदान करने,घायलों का समुचित उपचार कराने व दुर्घटना की त्वरित जांच करवाने के निर्देश भी दिए गए हैं।

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) May 16, 2020

Other accidents

Earlier this week, twin road accidents occurred. In one accident, six migrant workers were mowed down by a state transport bus while they were walking towards Muzaffarnagar late on Wednesday night, May 13. The migrants were travelling from Punjab in the lockdown.

In another, eight migrant labourers dead and around 50 others have been injured in Madhya Pradesh's Guna after the truck they were travelling in collided with a bus in Cantt PS area last night. All the 8 killed labourers were going to their native places in UP from Maharashtra.