…Melon picking for a pittance was not the dream that Satnam Singh had in mind when he left his village in northern India for a new life in Italy, working the marshy farmland south of Rome.

Back-breaking jobs, measly wages, long hours—and then the fatal mechanical accident that severed his arm and short life…

Context has traced Singh’s steps, explored his motives and asked what might stop other young men risking all for the promise of an uptick in wages and a life of abuse far from home…

Singh’s father Gurmukh said the family had to borrow money from a loan shark, pledge their gold ornaments and even abandon a daughter’s wedding plans to pay a people smuggler nearly a million rupees ($12,000) for the tortuous journey. ..

… He died in a Rome hospital 48 hours later and his employer’s son, Antonello Lovato, now faces potential homicide charges. Investigations are ongoing, but RAI quoted Lovato’s father as saying Singh had been warned not to approach the equipment….

Medical reports gathered by the prosecution say timely access to an emergency room could have saved Singh’s life…

Maria Grazia Gabrielli, general secretary of Italy’s largest trade union CGIL, linked this “event of unprecedented brutality” to “slave-like conditions” long endured by many farm hands…