The agony of the death of a labourer in a road accident is not even relieved when news of yet another accident deepens it. On May 16, at least 25 migrant labourers were killed and several others injured in the wee hours after the trailer truck they were travelling home in collided with a DCM van in the Auriya district of Uttar Pradesh, around 200 kms from state capital Lucknow.

The labourers, who were returning home from Rajasthan, were joined by others from Haryana as they were headed towards their native villages in Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal.

Rahul Sahees from Bokaro district of Jharkhand, who lost his life in the Auraiya incident, had only become a father five days ago. Rahul was informed on May 11 that his wife had given birth to a son whose chatthi (a religious festival) was to be held on May 17.

Rahul had set out to walk from Jaipur in Rajasthan to his home three days before the accident. On the way, some policemen had put the pedestrians, including Rahul, in a truck. Rahul got married a year ago and had left for Rajasthan six months ago in order to earn.

Rahul’s father, Vibhuti Sahees, who lives in Gopalpur village in Bokaro, said that Rahul was elated upon hearing over the phone about the birth of his son. When he was told that on May 17 there will be the chathi ritual of the child, he said that he’d attend it.

However, Rahul had not known then that he would never be able to see his son for whom he had set out on foot to tread more than 1,300 kms from Jaipur. Rahul’s bereaved family is not in a position to talk at this hour of grief. Five people of the village, including Rahul, have died in the incident.

Rajkumar Goswami, 25, a resident of Gopalpur village, told Gaon Connection over the phone: “Raja Jailer (25), Uttam (22) and Somnath (18) from my neighbourhood have died. No one’s house in the village has burned a hearth. Do not ask about the condition of the household of those who are dead. Somnath’s father had already died and he had been his mother’s only son. He had been to the city in order to earn for his sister’s marriage. The sister’s marriage had already been arranged. With his coming home this time, she would have been married.”

He added: “Of those who have died, there is only a broken house in the village and nothing else. They had been out working for many years. Now, there is no one left to earn in these families. Their families have turned mad with grief. Only last night, Raja had phoned and told me that he had sat in a vehicle and would reach Gaya by morning.”

When Sudama Yadav, father of Nitish, 21, living in Chiru village of Palamu district of Jharkhand got the news of the Auraiya road accident, he had already been calling up the officers of Auraiya district over the phone, since morning, to find out about his son’s safety. When he did not learn anything about his son by noon, he had left for Auraiya, 700 kms away from Palamu, to find his son.

He said: “A year-and-a-half-ago, my son had gone out to earn. He worked in a marble factory in Jaipur. When the work remained shut for two months, he got worried. When he spoke to me wanting to come home, I had sent Rs 3,000 to his account. He called me up at 8 PM on Friday night (a day before the accident) that he had boarded the train. In the morning, when I tried his number, his phone was switched off and is not yet on. Where is my son? What state is he in? I don’t know anything. Borrowing some money, I have booked a vehicle and would reach Auraiya by morning.”

Nitish has died in the Auraiya accident.

More than 50 labourers died between May 14 and May 16 in various road accidents across different parts of the country. In 51 days of countrywide lockdown, 516 labourers have lost their lives before reaching home with the highest number being of the labourers going on foot.

Aashik, Nandkishore’s neighbour, who has died in the accident, said: “We both worked in the same factory. I came home for Holi and couldn’t go back. He had stayed back. Since the factory had been closed for the last two months, Nandkishore was facing difficulty in finding food and was returning to the village with his family. Around 12 people from my village pooled money and had booked a vehicle from Faridabad at the rate of Rs 2,000 per person. Everyone else has survived, but not Nandkishore.”

A day before the incident, Nandkishore had phoned his friend, Aashik, and told him that he was booking a vehicle and coming to the village. His wife and two children – aged five and seven — were also accompanying him and are safe. Nandkishore hailed from Roora village, 80 kms away from the Jhansi district headquarters. Nandkishore was the eldest among the three brothers and used to support the entire family financially.

Sitting with three injured children at the Saifai hospital, Vandana has to go to the Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh. She was awake when the accident had happened. She said: “The driver had stopped at a dhabha for tea, and few other people had also gotten down to have some tea. We were parked along the road when suddenly a truck hit us and our car fell into a ditch. Under great distress, we were headed home renting a vehicle, but now everyone is seriously injured.”

Also injured in the accident was Arvind Singh from Deoria district. He said: “We were coming from Bharatpur, Rajasthan. The truck was filled with lime upon which 100-150 labourers were sitting. A friend of mine has died in this accident. We were so scared of corona that we were rushing home to save our lives but could not even reach home.”

Arvind has sustained major injuries on the head and waist and finds it difficult to talk further. The injured have now been admitted to the district hospitals at Saifai and Auraiya.

Many people are yet to be identified. The injured are looking for their colleagues who have gone missing. Kanti of Jhansi district had paid Rs 1,500 for the passage from Ghaziabad to Jhansi. His three children have been injured. Vandana said: “I’ve been looking for my brother-in-law since the incident. We did not know that it would happen so, otherwise we wouldn’t have left from Ghaziabad. We’d have died hungry, but not have undergone such terrible suffering.”

Five people from Gopalpur village of Bokaro district of Jharkhand have died in the incident and Dhanjai Kalindi of the same village has sustained major head injuries. Kalindi said: “I had dozed off when the car had overturned. I went to the nearby shop for help. Many of our people have died. Everyone had longed to go home so we all had set out on foot. On the way, the policemen put us on the truck. All of my friends are gone, leaving me alone.”