Three members of a family of daily-wage labourers, who were walking all the way home to their village in Uttar Pradesh from Delhi were killed in a tragic accident on the outskirts of Aligarh on Friday, police said.
The group of five people had left their home in Narela locality of Delhi on Monday for an arduous 500-kilometre walk to their village in Fatehpur district. They covered 130 kilometres to Aligarh in three days, according to the police.
The five people crossed the city on Thursday night when the driver of a wheat-laden tractor on G T Road near Madrak area agreed to carry them for a few kilometers as he was going in the same direction, the police said.
As they were boarding the tractor-trolley, a truck came up from behind and rammed into the vehicle around 2 am.
Ranjit Singh (44) and his cousin Dinesh (37) died on the spot, while the latter's wife Santkumari (32) was rushed to a hospital where she was declared brought dead.
Ranjit's wife Ramwati (40), who escaped unhurt along with her son Bhagirat, told the media at the district hospital that she had three other children in their village, including her daughter Mamta (18), who was set to be married later this month.
Police said the family had been informed and were expected to arrive on Friday night.