5 migrants die, 19 injured as UP-bound truck overturns in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar

Five migrant workers, who were going to Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra, were killed and 19 others injured on Saturday when a truck carrying them overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district, police said.

Praveen Bhuria, Sagar's additional superintendent of police, said the accident occurred around 10am near Semra on National Highway-86 under Chhanbila police station limits.

"Five migrant labourers were killed and 19 others injured, who were rushed to a government hospital in Banda," Bhuria said, according to PTI.

Bhuria said that the deceased, including three women, were going to Basti district in Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra along with others.

The truck was carrying bundles of clothes and the migrants were sitting over them, he said. Further investigation is underway, he added.

The accident in Sagar came after at least 24 migrant workers died in a road accident in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district.

Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from big cities after being laid off because of the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) since late March.

Millions of workers were left without work across cities and towns in India when the lockdown was announced on March 24, resulting in the first wave of workers going back to their villages.

(Inputs and image from hindustantimes.com)