Eight migrant labourers from Odisha’s Ganjam district were killed when the bus carrying them to Surat in Gujarat met with an accident near Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday.

The labourers, who had returned to Ganjam during the lockdown, were going back after failing to find work at home. They were earlier employed in the spinning mills of Surat.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased labourers.

Officials said the bus which came from Surat to take back the migrant labourers had started its journey from Ganjam around noon on Friday with 64 labourers from different parts of Ganjam district. “The bus met with an accident while overtaking a truck at Cheri Khedi near Raipur,” said Gagan, a labourer who was travelling in the bus but was lucky to survive. The accident took place around 3.30am.

Odisha labour minister Sushant Singh who rushed to the spot on the direction of the chief minister, told The Telegraph: “ It seems the driver of the bus hit the truck while trying to overtake it. The driver might have dozed off. The bus had two drivers and both of them fled after the accident. The exact cause of the accident would be known only after an inquiry. Such was the impact that the part of the bus on the opposite side of the driver’s cabin was completely damaged.”

“As per the direction of the chief minister, the injured are being given free medical treatment. While eight died in the accident, two are undergoing treatment. Two buses have been arranged to take the remaining 54 passengers back to Odisha. These buses will leave for Odisha in the evening,” he said.

Nearly 4 lakh labourers from Gujarat had returned to Odisha during the lockdown. After the lockdown was withdrawn, the migrant labourers who failed to land jobs started returning back to the states where they had earlier worked. Their employers in various parts of the country have been sending buses to ferry them back as factories have now reopened.

Workers from Ganjam are considered to be the backbone of the spinning and textile mills in Surat. The bus which met with the accident was sent by the owners of one of the spinning mills, sources said.

Family members of Biswanth Nath Gouda, one of the labourers who lost his life in the accident, are shattered. Gouda’s son said, “I had asked my father not to go back to Surat but he was adamant as we had no income. Since he was unable to go by train, he took the bus. Around 4am this morning, we received a phone call from one of his co-passengers Basant Bhai about the accident. Though he initially did not reveal about my father’s condition, around 9am, we were informed that he was no more.”

Similar is the story of Sushant Swain, another labourer who died in the mishap. His 74-year-old mother was inconsolable. “Sushant promised to come back after 4 months. All his savings had been exhausted during the lockdown. He told us that the factory in Surat had started production again and those who go back to work will get good money. Since our economic condition is not good I agreed to his proposal but I had never thought that it was the last time I would be seeing him,” said mother Keshari Swain.