Three truck drivers, stranded on the road for 50 days owing to the lockdown, died allegedly of food poisoning in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district, 70 km from here on Friday.
On March 18, the three, hailing from Bihar, had come to collect spirit from the Dhenkanal-based Shakti Sugars Limited for a liquor manufacturing factory in Khordha district of Odisha.
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“Following the announcement of lockdown, trucks could not move towards their respective destinations. Drivers of trucks had been cooking for themselves since then. The three drivers, who died, had been cooking together,” said Gyana Ranjan Samal, Inspector in charge of the Dhenkanal police station.
“The truck drivers had cooked fish and green banana for dinner on Thursday. One died on the spot, while another was rushed to the district headquarters hospital, Dhenkanal, where he died. After his condition worsened, the third driver was shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital. A report of his death has been received. The deaths, we suspect, could be due to food poisoning,” said the police officer.
Authorities of Shakti Sugars said the drivers had not entered the factory premises and they had been on the road.
The lockdown has brought about untold miseries for drivers of truck, especially those do not come under the essential service category. They have no option but to keep guarding their trucks for the past seven weeks.
