CNN
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The death of an Indian migrant worker in Italy, who was reportedly abandoned on a street after his arm was severed while on the job, has sparked outrage and led to calls for a demonstration on Saturday in the city of Latina in the country’s central Lazio region.
Satnam Singh, a 31-year-old farm worker, was left on the streets on Monday after losing his right arm while working on a farm near Latina, southeast of Rome, CNN affiliate SkyTG24 reported.
His arm was reportedly severed by a plastic wrapping machine on the farm. Singh died days later and became a symbol of the plight of the country’s vulnerable migrant workers. Several unions and the Latina Indian community organized demonstrations in the days that followed.
Italian state broadcaster RAI reported that Singh was hooked by a tractor-drawn plastic wrapping machine, which severed his right arm and crushed his lower limbs.
Singh was subsequently loaded into a van and left near his house, while his severed arm was left in a vegetable collection box, RAI reported.
He died on Wednesday at the San Camillo Hospital in Rome.
The farm owner Antonello Lovato – who allegedly left the injured Singh in front of his house after the incident – has now been investigated for manslaughter and failure to render assistance, Reuters reported, citing senior prosecutor Giuseppe De Falco.
According to SkyTG24, Singh had neither a regular contract nor a residence permit and had been working for the same company in Italy for two years.
CNN has contacted De Falco and Lovato’s lawyers and the Indian government for comment.
Lovato’s father, Renzo Lovato, told RAI that Singh had been warned “not to approach the vehicle” and that “it is a great sadness because a man died at work and something like this should never happen.”
The family’s lawyer, Valerio Righi, told Reuters that Antonello Lovato “spontaneously went to the criminal police an hour after the events, as any decent person would do,” adding that his client was waiting for formal charges to be filed so he could defend himself.
Responding to allegations that Singh was abandoned without calling an ambulance, Righi said: “You will see as the case progresses that perhaps help was called sooner than people think.”
The farm worker’s death has shocked the country. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences and strongly condemned Singh’s death at the cabinet meeting on Thursday.
“These are inhumane acts that do not deserve the Italian people and I hope that this barbarism will be severely punished,” she said in a statement.
Trade unions met with Italian Labor Minister Marina Elvira Calderone and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida on Friday to discuss necessary changes to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
What happened to Satnam Singh was “much more than just an injury: it is an inhuman act of barbarism with which those who abandoned him have shown that they have no respect for the value of human life,” Calderone said in an interview with RAI on Thursday, calling for exemplary punishments for exploitation in the workplace.
Several unions have organized a demonstration in Latina for Saturday and called for a two-hour strike to demand “dignity and respect for the health and safety of workers” and to call on political and social forces to fight against the exploitation of workers and inhumane working conditions.
Trade unions have also organised a fundraiser for Singh’s family, with some condemning Italy’s gang-ruling system, which involves the illegal recruitment and exploitation of farm workers.
In a press release on Wednesday, union leader Maria Grazia Gabrielli called the incident “unprecedented brutality.” She said the incident was a consequence of “the irregularity with which we expel thousands of migrants who come to our country in search of hope.”
She said migrants are “slaves of today’s society, undocumented and irregular, and therefore more easily blackmailed by those who see work only for profit and rights – such as the right to benefits – as obstacles.”
Gabrielli added that exploitation in the fields often leads to “starvation wages, unsafe and inhumane work rhythms and conditions, psychological and physical violence, which unfortunately also lead to terrible events like those in Latina.”
According to RAI, the Indian community of Latina will take to the streets on June 25 to take part in a demonstration in memory of Singh and will also present an open letter to the Prefect of Latina, Maurizio Falco, calling for action and condemnation of the incident.
According to a report by Italy’s largest trade union, CGIL, and the FLAI union, there were about 230,000 irregular workers employed in the primary sector in 2021, most of whom are foreign nationals working in agriculture and do not reside in Italy.
