Fifteen migrant labourers, sleeping near the road, were crushed to death this morning by a truck in a tragic incident near Gujarat’s Surat of India.

The incident took place early this morning near Kosamba village, around 60 km from Surat, police said. A dumper truck ran over the sleeping labourers on the Kim-Mandvi road killing 12 on the spot.

Some injured labourers have been taken to a nearby hospital. Three of the eight injured died during treatment taking the total fatalities to 15, police said.
The truck driver apparently lost control of the vehicle after it hit sugarcane hanging out of the tractor trolley coming from the opposite direction.

“The truck’s front window pane shattered on impact, which blocked the driver”s vision. The truck then veered off the road and crashed into the sleeping labourer,” Surat SP Usha Rada told news agency PTI. The driver has been detained, PTI reported.

All the victims were from Banswada in Rajasthan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief at the incident and his office tweeted: “The loss of lives due to a truck accident in Surat is tragic. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. Praying that the injured recover at the earliest.”

PM Modi also announced a compensation of ₹ 2 lakh for the families of the victims and ₹ 50,000 for each injured labourer.