In a tragedy that highlights the plight of thousands of jobless labourers stuck in other states due by the coronavirus lockdown and walking long distances back to their native states, 16 migrant workers were killed after a goods train ran over a group of migrants who fell asleep on the rail tracks on Friday in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra.
The Aurangabad incident was reported at around 5:22 am on Friday morning. The migrant labourers were on their way to their native places in Madhya Pradesh and had fell asleep on the railway tracks after an overnight walk from Jalna, about 40 kilometres from the site of the incident.
A video clip from the incident site showed bodies of the migrants on the railway tracks and their personal belongings scattered around. The victims were aged between 20 and 35 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish over the death of 16 migrant.
The health ministry, in their routine daily briefings on coronavirus in the country, said that at least 216 districts in India have not reported any Covid-19 case till date. In the last 24 hours, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal said, 3,390 new Covid-19 positive cases have been reported.
Besides, 1,273 coronavirus patients have recovered. The recovery percentage is now 29.36 per cent, the health ministry said. Till now, 16,540 patients have been cured and 37,916 patients are under active medical supervision. In total, India’s coronavirus count has mounted to 56,342.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus positive cases in Maharashtra — the worst-affected state in the country — reached 19,063, with 1,089 more people reporting positive on Friday. Thirty-seven people have died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll in the state to 731, said the Maharashtra Health Department.
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