Rome: An Indian farm labourer has died in Italy after he was allegedly left on the roadside following an accident in which his arm was severed and his legs crushed, as per media reports.
Satnam Singh was injured by heavy machinery while working in a vegetable field in Lazio, near Rome, on Monday, the BBC reported. Singh, in his early 30s, had been living and working in Italy as an undocumented migrant for around two years, the report said.
According to Italian media, Singh’s employer, Antonello Lovato, loaded him and his wife into a van and left them by the side of the road near their home with the severed arm placed in a fruit box.
Medical help did not reach Singh until an hour and a half later. He was airlifted to a hospital in Rome but died on Wednesday. The area where Singh worked is home to large agricultural farms with a substantial Punjabi and Sikh population, many of whom work as farmhands, the BBC report said.
Lovato is now under investigation for criminal negligence and manslaughter. Lovato’s father told Italian media: “My son had told Singh not to go near the machinery, but he didn’t listen.”
The BBC quoted Italy’s Minister of Labour, Marina Calderone, as saying that the death of Singh had been an “act of barbarity”.
The Indian embassy in Italy said it was “deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of an Indian national” and added it was “actively liaising with local authorities”.
The Flai CGIL trade union has called for a strike of agricultural workers on Saturday to protest the death.
Maurizio Landini, the union’s secretary general, said: “We are faced with a situation of real slavery. The death of a worker – an undocumented worker – is of unprecedented gravity.”
