A 24-year-old migrant worker, who was dumped on roadside by fellow travellers in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district after falling sick during a journey from Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh in a truck, died while undergoing treatment at the district hospital in the wee hours of Saturday.
A friend of the youth, who had decided to stay back with him given his health condition, is now admitted to the isolation ward of the hospital. Samples of the deceased, Amrit Ramcharan, and his friend Yaqoob Mohammad have been sent for COVID-19 testing, Shivpuri civil surgeon Dr P.K. Khare said.
A photograph of a distraught Yaqoob, sitting by the roadside while cradling the head of a visibly ill Amrit in his lap, had gone viral on social media.
Yaqoob said both he and Amrit worked together in a weaving unit in Surat. They had taken a truck along with several others to go to their village in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh. However, on the way, Amrit fell ill and since he had fever, the fellow travellers suspected him to be infected with COVID-19 and decided to dump him on the Kolaras bypass on Shivpuri-Jhansi highway on Friday afternoon.
Yaqoob, although they had paid Rs 4,000 for the travel each, also decided to stay back with his friend who was in a bad shape. He was seen crying and urging people to help them, on the Kolaras bypass.
Some social workers who were present at the spot took them to a local hospital, from where Amrit was referred to the Shivpuri district hospital.
Due to his bad condition, Amrit was put on ventilator. But he succumbed during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
Dr Khare said that Amrit had high fever and was also vomiting. The apparent symptoms are of severe heat-led complications, but things will become clear after the COVID-19 test results are available, he said. Yaqoob has also been quarantined in the isolation ward of the hospital as his test result, too, is pending.