Two migrant workers on way home aboard special bus from Surat killed as vehicle overturns

The bus carrying the migrant workers from Surat had started on Thursday night and was about to enter Ganjam district when the driver lost control at Kalinga Ghati on the borders of Ganjam and Kandhamal district.

Two migrant worker travelling from Surat to Ganjam district of Odisha in a bus carrying 65 workers died when the vehicle overturned at a hilly road in Kandhamal district on Saturday evening.

In the last 2 days, 325 migrant workers from Gujarat’s Surat town have already arrived in Odisha’s Ganjam district in 7 buses. (Getty Images/iStockphoto photo for representation)

Police officials said the bus carrying the migrant workers from Surat had started on Thursday night and was about to enter Ganjam district when the driver lost control at Kalinga Ghati on the borders of Ganjam and Kandhamal district.

Sub divisional police officer Jaykrushna Behera said the driver was over speeding on the hilly road when he lost control of the vehicle and dashed against concrete pillars and iron railing on the hilly road.

“As soon as the bus hit the pillars and iron railing, the driver slammed the brakes. Several people were thrown off leading to the death of one. The firemen and police managed to rescue 64 people,” said Behera.

State transport minister Padmanabha Behera said an inquiry would be done into the accident.

To avoid the possibility of migrants spreading the infection around, Odisha plans to keep all migrants returning to villages in institutional quarantine while those in urban areas would be kept in home quarantine for 14 days.