Outrage sparks as Indian farm labourer Satnam Singh dies in Italy after arm severed in work accident

An Indian farm worker has died in Italy after being severely injured in a workplace accident and left abandoned on the roadside without medical assistance. 

31-year-old Indian farm worker, Satnam Singh’s death has sparked outrage and prompted calls for a demonstration on Saturday in Latina, in the Lazio region.

Singh was left on the street on Monday after losing his right arm while working at a farm near Latina, southeast of Rome.His arm was severed by a plastic wrapping machine.

Trade unions and Latina’s Indian community are organising protests in the coming days.

According to Italian state broadcaster ‘RAI’, Singh was hooked by a plastic wrapping machine towed by a tractor, severing his right arm and crushing his lower limbs.

He was then loaded into a van and abandoned near his home, with his severed arm left in a vegetable collection box.

Singh died on Wednesday at San Camillo hospital in Rome.

An investigation into farm owner Antonello Lovato has been launched over potential charges of manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger under lead prosecutor Giuseppe De Falco.

Singh did not have a regular contract or residence permit and had been working at the company for two years.

Farm owner Lovato’s father, Renzo Lovato, told italian media that Singh had been warned “not to approach the vehicle” and expressed sadness, saying, “A man died at work and it should never happen.”

The family’s lawyer, Valerio Righi, explained that Antonello Lovato went to the judicial police an hour after the incident, stating that this was a decent person’s action.

He added that Lovato was waiting for the charges to be formalised to defend himself. Addressing the allegations that Singh was abandoned without any calls to an ambulance, Righi suggested that the proceedings would reveal that help might have been called sooner than people think.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences and condemned Singh’s death at Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

“These are inhumane acts that do not belong to the Italian people, and I hope this barbarism will be harshly punished,” she said in a statement.

Trade unions met with Labour Minister Marina Elvira Calderone and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida on Friday to discuss changes to prevent such incidents.

Marina Elvira Calderone described what happened to Satnam Singh as “more than just an injury”, labelling it an inhuman “act of barbarism”. She stated that those who abandoned him showed no regard for the value of human life and called for harsh punishments against work exploitation,

Several trade unions have organised a demonstration for Saturday in Latina and called for a two-hour strike to demand “dignity and respect for the health and safety of workers” and to combat worker exploitation and inhuman conditions.

Trade unions have also organised a fundraiser for Singh’s family, condemning Italy’s gang-mastering system, which involves the illegal recruitment and exploitation of agricultural workers.

In a press release, trade union leader Maria Grazia Gabrielli called the incident one of “unprecedented brutality”. She said it was a result of “the irregularity in which we relegate thousands of migrants who arrive in our country in search of hope.”

She said migrants found themselves as “slaves of contemporary society, irregular, without a residence permit, and therefore more susceptible to blackmail by those who consider work only for profit, and rights – such as that of assistance – only as obstacles.”

Gabrielli added that exploitation in the fields often results in “starvation wages, unsafe and inhuman working rhythms and conditions, psychological and physical violence which unfortunately also lead to terrible events like the one in Latina.”

The Indian community of Latina will protest on June 25 in memory of Singh and will deliver an open letter to Latina prefect Maurizio Falco, calling for action and denunciation of the incident, the italian media reported.

A report from Italy’s biggest labour union, CGIL, and labour union FLAI, stated that in 2021 there were approximately 230,000 irregular workers employed in the primary sector, which includes non-resident foreigners working in agriculture.