Baby Awakening Mother Who Died at Inkicha Station... Tragedy of COVID-19 Lockdown

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] A video capturing a young boy trying to shake awake his mother, a 20-something migrant worker who died from hunger and thirst at a train station in India, has spread across social networking services (SNS), drawing global sympathy. The lockdown orders to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) appear to be driving migrant workers into tragedy.

According to local media including PTI on the 28th, the video filmed at a train station in Muzaffarpur, Bihar state in northern India, shows the body of the deceased mother lying on the floor of the station. Unaware that his mother has passed away, the child in the video repeatedly pulls and lifts the blanket, trying to wake her. The baby, who seems to have just learned to walk, is still unsteady on his feet.

Tejashwi Yadav, an opposition politician who shared the video on Twitter, expressed sorrow, saying, "This little child does not know that the sheet he is playing with is his mother's shroud," and added, "The child's mother died from hunger and thirst on the train."

The 23-year-old woman suddenly collapsed at the train station in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. She had been traveling on a special train from Gujarat on the 23rd and was struggling with hunger and thirst, eventually losing her life. After she died on the train, her body was moved to the station, during which the video appears to have been recorded.

Following the spread of the video and media reports, the Indian government confirmed that the woman died on the train but denied reports that her health was poor before boarding and that there was a shortage of food and water on the special train, calling such reports "fake news."

In India, a nationwide lockdown was imposed in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19, causing millions of migrant workers in major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai to face difficulties in making a living. Most of these workers are daily wage laborers who lost their jobs immediately due to the lockdown, making it difficult to obtain food. Many are rushing to return to their hometowns, but there has been an increase in deaths from heat and hunger during the journey.

According to Johns Hopkins University in the United States, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in India was reported as 158,333 on this day. The daily new cases have exceeded 6,000 for seven consecutive days, with 6,566 new cases reported.