Satnam Singh, exploited and left dying (with his arm amputated on the fruit crate). The employer investigated

There is a suspect for the death of Satnam Singh, the Indian laborer who died yesterday at San Camillo in Rome , exploited and abandoned after a very serious accident at work in which he lost his arm.

His employer, Antonello Lovato , is accused of hit-and-run, violation of the provisions regarding irregular work and manslaughter . Interviewed by the police, he reported that he had transported Singh, with his amputated limb, in a van home. He said that the laborer's act was "a carelessness that can cost everyone dearly" . It cannot be ruled out that the Prosecutor's Office may also evaluate the crime of gangmastering.

A story, the one that took place in the countryside of the province of Latina, of ferocity and exploitation. The labourer, who worked without a contract and earned 4 euros an hour, lost his right arm at work, severed by a plastic wrapping machine. His wife worked with him in the same company. And while the woman begged to take him to hospital and call for help, the 31-year-old was loaded onto the minibus and abandoned outside the house, with his amputated arm – a chilling detail – resting on a fruit crate .

His family called for help, the air ambulance took him urgently to San Camillo, where yesterday he died after days of atrocious suffering.

The owner of the company, assisted by lawyers Stefano Perotti and Valerio Righi, was interviewed for several hours by the soldiers of the Latina company, directed by Major Paolo Perrone. It is to be verified whether the desire not to alert emergency services is linked to contractual irregularity or the worker's lack of a residence permit. Singh had arrived in Italy with his wife, both of whom had been employed in the same company for two years . A life like that of many Indian citizens who are numerous in the Agro Pontino countryside, employed in the countryside or on farms. A lot of work, few guarantees .

Singh's sad story reopens the chapter of the plague of gangmastering . Coldiretti calls for "severe penalties and rigorous controls that target illegal work and exploitation, bringing to light those pockets of the underground economy which also create unfair competition for regular companies". CGIL and UIL ask to "intervene immediately on the issue of safety, an emergency among emergencies" and the CISL asks to "guarantee the dignity and safety of work in all production sectors".

The opposition, Pd and M5S, speak of a "bestial act" and a "point of no return". The Minister of Labor Marina Calderone also intervenes and speaks of an «act of barbarism that must be prosecuted in all offices» and expresses the government's commitment «to provide the widest possible assistance to the authorities, as we have been doing since the early hours to establish the facts and ensure that those who committed them are punished."

(Unioneonline/L)