Chin refugee boy severely injured by truck in Delhi

New Delhi, India – A Chin refugee boy named Joshua has got a serious injury on his left leg after being run over by a truck full of soil in New Delhi, India yesterday.

The 7-year-old child was hit by the vehicle on a narrow road in Sitapuri Ward around 11am while he was walking home from school.

Mrs Pari, an eyewitness who runs a small shop in the vicinity, said: “I saw a truck passing and in a few seconds, the boy was under its wheel. The boy tried to pull his leg but he couldn’t. I started crying at that point only to see a pool of blood all over.”

“I could see the bone of his leg with the skin wide open piling on his shin and ankle. I called the police and he was taken to hospital,” added Mrs Pari.

Admitted at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital (UDDU), Joshua was released on the same day after having had his leg stitched, according to his father, Pu Thawng Boi.

Pu Thawng Boi said the incident took place while he and his wife were going to Don Bosco Ashalayam Office to collect their subsistence allowance provided by UNHCR in New Delhi.

“We have got to pay for all the expenses including medicines and local transport costs,” said Pu Thawng Boi, who has been unable to work since last November due to his ill health.

The Chin couple, with their five children aged 15, 13, 7, 5 and 1, of which three are girls, live in a small rented room where they cook, eat and sleep.

“Currently, we live on the subsistence allowance we get for two of our children plus a small amount of wages my wife earns from her work. We don’t know how to continue our lives. I hope that the UNHCR will continue to assist us by providing subsistence allowance to my children,” added Pu Thawng Boi.

The Socio-Legal Information Centre (SLIC), an implementing partner of the UNHCR, provided assistance in interpretation at the police station yesterday.

“I was told to sign at Dabri Police Station and I did. Today, we went to court and will have to appear again on Monday,” said Mrs Thawng Boi.

The truck’s driver has been arrested, according to the family.

The family of Pu Thawng Boi, originally from Matupi, Chin State, and his wife, from Tuithim in Kalay Township of Sagaing Division, came to New Delhi, India in 2008 after having fled Burma.

Sources from the Chin community in New Delhi said two Chin refugees were crushed to death by vehicles in February last year but no actions have been taken regarding the cases until today.