On ‘donkey route’ to the US, Gurdaspur man killed in Mexico bus accident

The body of the man, identified as Gurpal Singh (26), was brought back to his native village of Bhagrian and cremated on Tuesday.
As per details, Gurpal had completed his engineering degree from a Gurdaspur college four years ago. After completing his degree, he operated a bike taxi for a few months. Later, however, he convinced his family to send him abroad, even if it meant his kin having to spend Rs 37 lakh to send their son to the US as an illegal immigrant through a donkey route.

Gurpal, his kin said, was the second child of his parents and had two sisters. He and his younger sister were unmarried. His father had retired from a government department. The family owns an acre of land. He first tried to go abroad using a study visa, but couldn’t manage that owing to the Covid outbreak. He then went to Chandigarh to run a taxi bike but returned after a few months to resume his efforts to go abroad and become economically self-dependent. “Many youths from our village have gone abroad as illegal immigrants. He also saw this as an opportunity. His father was against sending him abroad. But he kept insisting. He used to say that there is nothing here that he could do to earn money. His persistence paid off with the family finally agreeing to his demand later,” said Gurmail Singh, an uncle of Gurpal.

“In fact, the group in which Gurpal was travelling had been stopped by Mexican Police briefly. He was talking to his younger sister when the bus met with the accident. His sister listened to the cries of the injured over the phone. But the family had no clear information about his condition. It took a week before the family was informed that Gurpal had died in the accident. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Gurdaspur MP, Sunny Deol, helped the family in bringing back his body,” said Gurmail Singh. He added, “The family spent Rs 37 lakh on sending Gurpal abroad. The family borrowed money from relatives and friends. Now, some influential persons from the village have promised the family to make the travel agent return the money.”

“There is hardly any youth here who doesn’t want to go abroad. It is better to not earn money than to take so much risk and go abroad. Even those going on legal visas are dying of heart attacks in countries like Canada and the US. The government should do something so that we can stop our children from the temptations of going abroad and getting rich,” said Inderpal Singh Bains, a farmer leader from Gurdaspur.

France’s leading newspaper Le Monde, reported about the accident in which Gurpal was killed. “At least 18 people were killed, and at least 23 were injured on Thursday, August 3, when a bus carrying foreign migrants and locals plummeted into a ravine in northwestern Mexico, authorities said… Most of the passengers are foreigners originating from countries such as India, the Dominican Republic, and from the African continent…,” the report read.