A bus carrying migrant workers from Gujarat's Surat overturned at Kalinga Ghati in Odisha's Kandhamal district, according to reports. At least one person died and 40 others sustained injuries in the accident.
"Bus from Surat carrying migrant workers overturns at Kalinga Ghati along Ganjam-Kandhamal border. 1 person has died & another person is seriously injured," Southern Range DIG Satyabrat Bhoi was quoted as saying by KalingaTV.
The incident happened Saturday evening when a convoy of seven buses carrying migrants from Gujarat reached Kaling Ghati. The driver of one of the buses lost control over the wheel and the bus overturned. Odisha Transport Minister Padmanav Behera said that most of the migrants suffered minor injuries and they have been rescued.
The Odisha government had deployed seven buses to bring back Odia migrant workers from Gujrat's Surat. The buses were en route to Ganjam district when the tragic incident took place.
Bus from Surat carrying migrant workers overturns at Kalinga Ghati along Ganjam-Kandhamal border. 1 person has died & another person is seriously injured, Southern Range DIG Satyabrat Bhoi tells @Kalingatv. Rescue work going in full swing pic.twitter.com/V7g8tE0ySg
— Soumyajit Pattnaik (@soumyajitt) May 2, 2020
After the central government allowed movement of migrant workers, tourists and students who were stranded across the country due to the nation-wide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the Naveen Patnaik-led state government had sent buses to Gujarat to bring back the Odia migrants.
Apart from that, a special train carrying 1,200 migrant workers from Kerala to Bhubaneswar in Odisha started from Aluva near Ernakulam on Friday night. There are 360,000 migrant workers staying in 20,826 camps at present. Most want to go back to their hometowns. Most of them are from Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar and UP.
