Migrant workers hold a plastic sheet to protect themselves from the rain inside a truck as they return to their hometowns after the government eased a nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against COVID-19 on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India on Saturday. Photo: AFP

At least 30 Indian migrant workers were killed Saturday in road accidents as they tried to return to their home villages during a nationwide coronavirus lockdown, officials said.

The accidents, in central and northern India, were the latest involving some of the millions of laborers left stranded and jobless by the shutdown. 

Scores have died in road and rail accidents and even from exhaustion of walking home.

In the deadliest incident, a truck carrying about 40 laborers struck another vehicle also carrying workers and their families that was parked at a roadside cafe in Uttar Pradesh, local magistrate Abishek Singh told AFP.

At least 25 were killed and 30 injured. 

It is thought the driver of the truck had fallen asleep, Singh said. The vehicle was carrying lime powder which suffocated many of those who died, all of whom were men, he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident "extremely tragic" in a Twitter post and said relief work was in "full swing" at the scene.

A drunk driver was blamed for the second accident, in Madhya Pradesh, when a truck bringing laborers back from neighboring Maharashtra state overturned, local official Shashi Mishra said.

The millions of laborers, who live off subsistence wages, have become a major concern for the government as it prepares to ease the lockdown from Monday in a bid to get the economy moving again.

The government has responded to criticism of its handling of the migrant worker crisis by promising extra finance to get those stranded back home and provide food rations.

Many businesses shut down overnight after the lockdown began on March 25, leaving millions suddenly out of work.

Desperate to return to their homes, many migrants have walked hundreds of kilometers or hitched rides on trucks.

Sixteen were killed in May when a train ran over them as they slept on a railway track.

The government is also battling a surge in coronavirus cases in major cities as it prepares to ease the lockdown.

Economist Shamika Ravi, who advises the government and is a much-watched commentator on coronavirus in India has warned that the country must do more to control the outbreak in Mumbai, New Delhi and other cities.

AFP