Three farmers died after being hit by a speeding truck near the Tikri protest site at the Delhi-Haryana border on Thursday morning, NDTV reported.
The accident took place when a group of seven women were waiting on a divider for an autorickshaw, according to The Indian Express. They wanted to go the railway station to catch a train back home to a village in Punjab’s Mansa district.
“A tipper, carrying dust, rammed into the group of women farmers,” Jhajjar Superintendent of Police Waseem Akram told the newspaper. “Two of them died on the spot.”
The third woman died on the way to the hospital. Two others who were injured are reportedly out of danger.
The deceased women were identified as 58-year old Amarjeet Kaur and Chhinder Kaur and Gurmail Kaur, both aged 60, The Times of India reported.
The driver of the truck fled the spot after the incident, according to The Indian Express.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi’s border entry points since November 2020, seeking the withdrawal of the farm laws passed last September. Farmers fear that the laws will bring about corporate dominance of the agricultural sector.
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