Bagalkot (Karnataka), February 21 – Three migrant laborers and their two-year-old child, all from Maharashtra, were killed in a road accident in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, on Saturday, according to police.
According to police, the victims were traveling in a tractor-drawn cart to a sugarcane field for harvesting work when the cart reportedly detached from the vehicle and overturned near Katte Kere in the Jamakhandi taluk, killing four of them on the spot.
The deceased have been identified as Manish Pandey, 23, Halaki Pandey, 2, Lakshmi Chiramadi, 27, and Rekha Bhuke. They were residents of Gupawadi village in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. The laborers had come to the Jamakhandi region for seasonal sugarcane cutting work.
Police said the impact of the accident was so severe that all four died instantly. The bodies were later taken to a hospital for post-mortem examination. Police conducted a preliminary inspection of the accident site and registered a case.
Further investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the accident.
The incident comes amid a series of recent tragedies involving migrant workers in Karnataka.
On January 31, four migrant workers from Assam, employed by a private firm, were found dead under mysterious circumstances inside a labour shed in Muthsandra village of Hoskote taluk, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Police said the men were sleeping in the shed when the incident occurred. Preliminary findings suggest possible suffocation, though the exact cause of death is yet to be confirmed.
Earlier, on February 8, three migrant workers from Andhra Pradesh’s Annamayya district were killed, and 15 others seriously injured when a jeep carrying agricultural laborers overturned near Srinivaspur in Kolar district.
The group had travelled to Karnataka for farm work and were returning home when the driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle, causing it to skid and overturn.
