Nine migrant workers die in Bhagalpur accident

BHAGALPUR: Nine migrant workers died when the truck in which they were travelling collided with a bus on NH-31 near Naugachia in Bhagalpur district on Tuesday. The deceased were sitting on the roof of the truck loaded with iron bars and other construction material.
At least 30 migrant workers travelling in the bus were also injured in the accident, which took place near Ambho Chowk under Kharik police station.The impact of the head-on collision was so severe that the truck overturned and fell into a roadside ditch. The iron bars as well as the truck fell on the workers, killing nine of them on the spot. The truck driver absconded.
Three of the deceased were identified as Rustam and Gulshan of Motihari and Md Hasim from Bettiah. The remaining six were yet to be identified. Some of the injured migrant workers commuting by the bus from Darbhanga to Banka were given first aid, while seriously injured Pramod Yadav, Jagdish Yadav, Bacchu Khera and Punam Khera from Banka district were admitted to local government hospital.
CM Nitish Kumar expressed grief on the death of nine persons and announced ex gratia payment of Rs4 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased. He also directed Bhagalpur administration to ensure proper medical treatment to the injured. Nitish also appealed to the migrant workers and others not to travel in clandestine manner as the central and the state governments were making arrangements for their safe transportation.
Sources said the deceased were riding bicycles and took lift on the truck from Naugachia on their way back home at Motihari and Bettiah in East Champaran and West Champaran districts respectively. The truck was going to Muzaffarpur.
DIG (Bhagalpur range) Sujeet Kumar said the deceased were travelling on the truck along with their bicycles. “The truck belongs to a person from Muzaffarpur,” he said.
Naugachia SP Nidhi Rani, SDPO Pravendra Bharti, SDO Mukesh Kumar and Kharik police got the injured rescued.