After being stranded for days without food outside the State due to the nationwide lockdown, two Odisha migrant labourers died in a road mishap while returning to their villages by a bicycle from Hyderabad.
They have been identified as Jitan Behera (30), a resident of Dahanimara village, and his nephew (sister’s son) Narottam Behera (28) of Kantapala village, both under Hindol block in Dhenkanal district.
Family sources said Jitan and Narottam had migrated to Hyderabad a few years ago and were engaged as workers in a hotel there. After the lockdown was enforced in the city, the hotel was shut. As they had no work and ran out of savings, both spent days without food.
They decided to return home soon after lifting of the first phase of lockdown on April 14. But the Centre announced an extension of the lockdown for another 19 days till May 3.
As all kinds of transport services remain suspended till an indefinite period, Jitan and Narottam decided to pedal thousands of km to reach home. Carrying some dry foods with them, they started the long journey on April 19.
While they were en route to Odisha, an unknown vehicle hit their bicycle at around 4 pm on Saturday in West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, killing them on the spot.
Local police reached the accident site and recovered the duo’s bodies. The cops informed their family members after collecting phone numbers from mobile phones of the deceased. To confirm their identities, the cops also sent photographs of deceased men on WhatsApp.
The bereaved families then approached the district administration to get the bodies from the Andhra Pradesh police.