Surat Tragedy: 15 Dead As Truck Runs Over Sleeping Labourers; PM Modi Announces Rs 2 Lakh Ex-Gratia

The truck ran over a group of around 21 people sleeping on a footpath at Kim Char Rasta near Surat in Gujarat and all those killed hailed from Rajasthan.

Surat Road Mishap: At least 15 migrant labourers inlcuding a 5 year-old girlchild, were killed in Surat district of Gujarat on Tuesday wee hours after being crushed by a truck, police confirmed.

The truck ran over a group of around 21 people sleeping on a footpath at Kim Char Rasta near Surat in Gujarat and all those killed hailed from Rajasthan.

The tragedy took place early in the morning near Kosamba village, around 60 km from Surat, police said.

All the victims were daily wage labourers from Rajasthan’s Banswara district. They were sleeping on the footpath when a atractor laden with sugarcane crashed into another truck and the truck driver lost contrl of his vehicle and ran it over the footpath, crushing the laboureres sleeping there.

The victims, all of whom were daily labourers from Rajasthan's Banswara district, were sleeping on the footpath when a sugarcane-laden tractor crashed into another truck. The truck driver lost control of the vehicle and veered off the road, onto the footpath, running over 21 people who were sleeping there. 13 of them died on the spot, rest were rushed to hospital, where two more succumbed to the injuries. 

PM Modi mourns the loss of lives: 

"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," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet. 

Ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the accident in Surat. Rs. 50,000 each would be given to those injured, the Prime Minister's office has said.