Five migrant labourers were crushed to death and eight others injured after an accident with a canter on GT Road near Sardar Nager area, Mandi Gobindgarh on Friday. The injured were rushed to the civil hospital in Mandi Gobindgarh. While four of them were referred to PGI Chandigarh, two were sent to Fatehgarh Sahib.

The postmortem of the deceased was conducted at the civil hospital and their bodies have been kept in the mortuary as their family members had not arrived till Saturday evening. SHO of Mandi Gobindgarh police station, Mahesh Saini, said, “The bodies will be handed over to the family of the victims once they arrive.”

All natives of Bihar, the victims were working in an industrial unit—KC Soni Pipe Plant at Mandi Gobindgarh. After the incident, irate labourers from the industrial unit and other units blocked traffic and damaged a few vehicles.

The mob initially refused to budge and did not allow the police to lift the bodies from the accident site. Senior police officials also rushed to the spot to take control of the situation.

People had to face great inconvenience as traffic was blocked for almost two-and-a-half hours.

According to reports, the mishap occurred around 6.30 am when the canter, on its way to Ludhiana, lost its balance. The victims were reportedly returning after their duty at the industrial unit.

The canter driver, Inder Singh, a resident of Sufiabad Kundi village, Sonepat district, Haryana, tried to escape from the site but was arrested later.

Manoj Kumar and Vinod, both residents of village Sapha district Purnia; Santosh, a resident of Naya Toll Nogchiya and Mohamand Skoor died on the spot while Mohammad Naeem succumbed to his injuries at the civil hospital.