Heartbreaking Image Shows Sick Migrant Worker Passed Out As His Friend Sits By His Side

The ongoing nationwide lockdown has been tough for everyone but those left with without jobs, income or shelter have been the worst affected. Since March, millions of migrant workers have been trying to reach their homes, on foot, on cycles or on trucks.

While many have made it after days of struggle, others have not been so lucky.

In the nearly two months that have gone by, dozens of migrant workers trying to reach their homes have reportedly died on the road due to exhaustion.

BCCL

Now, another distressing image has surfaced online and it shows a migrant worker who has seemingly passed out as his friend tries to give him water and rouse him.

The photo has been reportedly shot near a highway in Madhya Pradesh¡¯s Shivpuri and it shows a migrant worker sitting on the roadside, trying to help his friend whose head is on his lap. The man in the picture has been identified as Yakoob Mohammad, and the man lying on his lap was his friend Amit Kumar.

BCCL

Yakoob and Amrit who used to work in a garment factory in Surat were trying to reach their homes in Basti, Uttar Pradesh on a truck. They, like others on the truck, had paid the driver Rs 4,000 each to take them home during the lockdown.

Yaqoob said they had set out for their hometown, Basti, in UP, from Gujarat after the garment factory in Surat where they worked shut down. But on the way, Amit fell sick and had a high fever, after which other passengers on the truck insisted that the 24-year-old not travel with them. Yakoob, however, refused to dump his friend who was unwell and got off the truck on the Kolaras bypass on Shivpuri-Jhansi highway.

AP

After the truck left Yakoob sat on the roadside pleading to every passerby to take his friend to a hospital. After some time with the help of some locals, Yakoob took him to a nearby hospital, from where Amrit was referred to the Shivpuri district hospital. Due to his bad condition, Amrit was put on a ventilator, but he succumbed during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

According to Dr. Khare of Shivpuri district hospital, Amrit had a high fever and was also vomiting. The apparent symptoms are of severe heat-led complications. However, samples of both Amit and Yakoob were collected and sent for the COVID-19 test. Yaqoob has also been quarantined in the isolation ward of the hospital.