While four people were killed on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Expressway, five were killed in Hyderabad.
At least nine migrant labourers returning home amid coronavirus lockdown were killed in two separate incidents early on Saturday morning. While four people were killed on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Expressway, five were killed in Hyderabad.
Seven migrant labourers in Gujarat were walking on foot to return to their homes in different parts of the country. On reaching the Maharashtra border, they were returned back by the police. They were taking the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Expressway to return when a tempo allegedly hit them near Virar. While four of them died, there are said to be in hospitals in critical condition.
Two of the deceased have been identified but two are still unidentified.
In another incident, five people died near Shamshabad Highway in Hyderabad as a truck hit Bolero pickup van. Around 30 people, all of them labourers and their families, were going from Suryapet in Telangana to Raichur in Karnataka. Five of them died on the spot while six have been admitted to Osmania Hospital with serious injuries.
They were returning home after a 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
In Delhi, the images of hundreds of people, most of them migrant labourers and semi-skilled workers, crossing the state border to return home continue to pour in.
These people, in small and big groups, were seen crossing the Delhi border on foot at Ghazipur in an effort to reach their homes in different districts of Uttar Pradesh in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.
Notably, this comes at a time of when social distancing is being repeatedly emphasised to contain the spread of the virus, but conditions have forced the working class to traverse the distance by foot, braving the risk of the disease, when they see no other option.
After the announcement of lockdown on Tuesday, migrant labourers started walking home on foot as all the public transport was stopped by the authorities. On Saturday, some of them were seen boarding buses or hitchhiking on the trucks returning to different parts after delivering essential supplies to the national capital.
In light of the heightened concern on the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in India, the country has been placed under complete lockdown for 21 days. Authorities have asked citizens to maintain strict social distancing to cut the spread of the virus outbreak.
On Saturday, around 873 people across India have been reported to have contracted the coronavirus, as new cases were reported in Maharashtra, Telangana, and the Andamans this morning. The virus has affected around 6 lakh people worldwide. The global death toll has hit 27,000-mark.
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