Italian farm owner arrested after Indian worker dies in farm accident

ROME (AP) — Italian police have arrested farm owner Antonello Lovato on suspicion of homicide following the tragic death of Satnam Singh, an undocumented laborer from India. Singh bled to death after his arm was severed by farm equipment, and Lovato allegedly abandoned him without calling for medical help. The incident has caused outrage in Italy, with unions and farm workers protesting for improved working conditions and an end to the exploitative "caporalato" system that exploits underpaid migrant labor in the country's agriculture industry. President Sergio Mattarella has condemned the treatment of workers like Singh, highlighting the inhumane conditions faced by seasonal farmhands in Italy. Carabinieri police in Latina arrested Lovato after prosecutors upgraded the charge from manslaughter to homicide with "malice afterthought" based on forensic findings that Singh died from severe blood loss. Reports indicate that prompt medical care could have potentially saved Singh's life, but an ambulance was not called immediately after the accident. Witnesses claim that Lovato, who was operating the machinery that caused Singh's injury, ignored pleas from Singh's wife to seek medical help, insisting that Singh was already dead. It was a neighbor who eventually called for an ambulance, but Singh succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Rome two days later. The prosecutors in Latina emphasized the urgent need for medical attention in Singh's case, underscoring the severity of his condition. Efforts to reach Lovato's lawyers for comment were unsuccessful, but statements suggest that Singh's death could have been prevented with timely intervention. The tragic incident has shed light on the dangers faced by migrant workers in Italy and sparked calls for justice and reform within the agricultural sector to prevent similar tragedies in the future.