A road accident in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has killed 24 people and injured more than 36 others.

According to news reports, the incident happened in the Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh when a truck carrying migrant workers hit another lorry at around 3.30am.

Two more people died afterwards, taking the death toll to 26.

Local police said that the larger truck, which was coming from the state of Rajasthan, had more than 50 people and other commodities when it collided with the other supply vehicle.

Eyewitnesses told The Hindu that both the vehicles fell into the nearby ditch after the collision.

After the incident, a police sub-inspector and seven constables were suspended for negligence during duty hours. Further investigations are underway.

On 24 March, the Indian Government imposed a nationwide lockdown to restrict the spread of Covid-19. Since then, the lockdown was extended several times as the number of confirmed cases continued to increase.

However, the decision left millions of migrant workers, who sustain on daily wages, without work. Thousands of such workers opted for goods lorries or walking to return to their home states instead of queuing for special bus or train services.

Such desperate measures caused several accidents in the last few weeks, killing dozens of people.

As of 18 May, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India has crossed 96,000. The death toll also surged to 3,029.

Globally, the pandemic has infected more than 4.7 million people and has killed over 315,000.