An Indian station (here Kokalta) during the coronavirus crisis. - D. Sarkar / AFP

Terrible drama following confinement. Fourteen migrant workers died crushed by a train in western India while sleeping on the rails during their return home, local authorities said on Friday. Tens of millions of Indians have lost their jobs due to the containment that has been in place in the South Asian country since late March to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.

The cessation of activity led to an exodus of migrants from major Indian cities to their villages of origin, despite the lack of public transport and the closing of borders between states.

They were walking home

“Migrant workers were walking back to their homes (in the state of Madhya Pradesh) when they decided to rest on a railroad track. A freight train hit them early in the morning, "said SS Sutale, a local police official from the Aurangabad region of Maharashtra state.

Three other migrants emerged from the accident injured but alive. Passenger trains have not been operating in India since the end of March, but the carriage of freight remains authorized on the rail network. "After seeing workers on the track, the locomotive driver of a freight train tried to stop the train but ran into them between Badnapur and Karmad stations," said the railway ministry.

Special trains for migrants

Indian states have recently set up special trains to bring stranded migrants away from their family homes. But sometimes unable to pay for the ticket, some of them continue to try to get home on foot, sometimes walking hundreds of kilometers.

India recorded as of Friday 1,886 deaths for 56,342 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

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  • India
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