Three labourers were killed and seven others were seriously injured after a pickup vehicle carrying workers collided with a bauxite-laden truck in Chhattisgarh’s Balrampur district early Saturday. The accident took place at around 2 am near Sewari on the Rajpur-Kusmi road under Rajpur police station limits. The workers, all residents of Narola village in Surajpur district, were travelling to Shankargarh for tomato cultivation work when the pickup reportedly crashed into the truck.

According to the information provided by police, all 10 workers travelling in the pickup were injured in the collision. The impact severely damaged the vehicle. A police team reached the spot after receiving information about the accident and shifted the injured to the Rajpur Community Health Centre with the help of ambulances. Three workers — Ran Sai (34), Uday Kumar (25) and Amar Sai (35) — were declared dead at the hospital. The remaining seven, identified as Dev Kumar (34), Bhanu (32), Amar Sai (40), Laxman (30), Ajay Kumar (40), Rai Singh (38) and Pradeep (34), were referred to Ambikapur Medical College for further treatment. Police said several of the injured suffered serious or internal injuries, while at least four were reported to be in critical condition.

The collision also disrupted traffic on the Rajpur-Kusmi road, with a temporary jam forming after the accident. Police removed the damaged vehicles from the road and restored traffic movement. Rajpur police station in-charge Bhardwaj Singh said the workers' families had been informed and relatives of the deceased reached Rajpur in the morning. A preliminary account has attributed the crash to the pickup's high speed, although the circumstances surrounding the collision will be examined as part of the police proceedings. The incident has once again highlighted concerns over the transportation of labourers in goods vehicles. Although carrying passengers in such vehicles is restricted, workers travelling for agricultural activities are often transported in pickups and other goods carriers, increasing the risk of serious accidents.

The Balrampur accident also comes about a month after another fatal incident involving a labourer-filled pickup in the Shankargarh area. In that accident, three women died after the vehicle overturned while they were returning after working in agricultural fields. The repeated incidents have raised concerns about the safety of workers travelling in goods vehicles, particularly during the agricultural season when groups of labourers frequently travel between villages and farming locations.