Three migrant workers, two of them injured in an accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya on Saturday , alleged that they had to travel 400km with bodies of their co-labourers who had been killed when their truck had rammed into a stationary lorry.

The nightmarish journey of the three migrants ended at Mughalsarai when they boarded a car that had been sent by the Bengal government to bring them back to their home in Purulia.

Injured migrants workers, Shibram Karmakar and Kailash Mahato, were admitted to the Purulia district hospital on Monday morning, while Gopal Mahato was sent to his home in Purulia’s Kotshila.

The trio survived the Saturday morning accident that killed 26 persons, including six from Purulia. The bodies were brought to Bengal by the state government and handed over to the family members on Monday afternoon.

“We were asked to board a mini truck with the bodies from Auraiya on Sunday morning. We had to sit with the bodies on the truck. We could not object as we had to return home. We are still in trauma,” said Shibram.

“We sat and held onto the truck tightly to avoid falling on the bodies. The stench was unbearable as the corpses started decomposing. We were given ice bars and asked to put the same on the bodies,” he said.

After the mini truck reached Allahabad in the evening where the six bodies were shifted to three separate ambulances, they boarded those vehicles.

“It was night when we started from Allahabad and in our entire journey, we travelled with the bodies. We tried to inform the local officials in UP but no one heeded our plea,” said Kailash, another worker.

Google maps shows that the entire journey of the three migrants was over 400km.

The workers said they had reached Mughalsarai at 1.30am on Monday and the team from Bengal took over.

The Bengal government had sent a five-vehicle convoy, including two air-conditioned ambulances and two separate cars, to Mughalsarai.

“It was a great relief for us when we reached Mughalsarai and boarded a separate car to travel to Purulia. We can’t imagine how our journey was especially in the night when we were travelling to Mughalsarai from Allahabad,” Kailash said at Purulia district hospital.

Rahul Majumdar, the Purulia district magistrate, said it was inhumane to make anyone travel with the bodies.

“It is really very bad and inhuman if such things have happened. However, from Mughalsarai, they travelled in a separate car sent from by us,” he said.