At least 14 migrant workers were killed after they were mowed down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, reports claimed. According to PTI, the workers were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna, and further onward to Madhya Pradesh. They had been walking along the rail tracks and slept off due to exhaustion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his anguish at the incident. "Extremely anguished by the loss of lives due to the rail accident in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Have spoken to Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal and he is closely monitoring the situation. All possible assistance required is being provided," he tweeted.
Migrants who are returning to their home states face innumerable perils on the road, and such accidents have been reported before. In Gujarat, in March, two women labourers who were heading for their home state of Rajasthan were run over by a freight train in Vapi district. They were part of a group which was heading for Rajasthan on foot. As the others in the group went ahead, leaving the bodies on the tracks.
Four migrant workers from Rajasthan were crushed to death and three seriously injured when a tempo ran over them as they were walking along a highway in Maharashtra's Palghar district. The incident took place along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway near Parol village in Vasai tehsil.
India is under the biggest lockdown with around 1.3 billion people asked to stay home in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Migrant labourers from different cities have been undertaking perilous journeys back to their home states amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Left with no means to earn a living, they were forced to undertake long journeys on foot to their far-flung homes in the absence of any means of transport.