The mortal remains of seven Bangladeshi migrant workers who tragically lost their lives in a devastating factory fire in Saudi Arabia returned home on Saturday morning. A Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight carrying the caskets landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8:00 am, bringing a grim closure to a months-long period of agonising suspense for the bereaved families.
Emotional scenes unfolded at the airport terminal as grieving relatives broke down upon receiving the bodies of their loved ones. Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment officials oversaw the requisite administrative procedures before formally handing over the remains. Distraught family members subsequently departed with the caskets for their ancestral homes in the northern districts of Naogaon and Natore to conduct the final rites.
The victims had perished in a catastrophic fire that swept through a sofa manufacturing unit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on 9 August. The tragedy initially claimed the lives of 16 Bangladeshi expatriate workers. While nine bodies were identified and repatriated in the first phase on 27 August, the remaining seven casualties had suffered extreme burns, rendering immediate identification impossible. Authorities were forced to rely on complex forensic DNA matching to conclusively verify their identities before clearance for air transport could be granted.
The seven workers identified through DNA testing have been named as Md Shahin, Md Hasibul Hasan Shuvo, Minhaj Pramanik, Md Masidul Sardar Sojib, and Md Sagar Ali from Naogaon district, alongside Mohammad Shamim and Md Sabbir Hossain from Naldanga upazila in Natore.
In response to the tragedy, government officials announced immediate financial assistance to support the affected households. Each family received an emergency grant of 35,000 taka at the airport to cover initial burial expenses. Additionally, the Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry confirmed that a broader financial compensation package of 300,000 taka will be disbursed to each victim’s family within the next three months.
Distressed relatives gathered at the airport urged the Bangladesh government to press Saudi authorities for a thorough investigation into workplace safety standards, whilst demanding robust long-term support for dependent family members left behind. Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi migrants toil in industrial sectors across the Middle East, rendering remittance earnings vital to the national economy, yet safety hazards in overseas workshops frequently culminate in severe accidents.
