Israil Bhuiyan from Brahmanbaria died in Iraq on 23 September and his family applied to the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board on the following day to bring back his dead body.
On the same day, the board, which looks after welfare of migrants, sent a letter to the labour counsellor at Bangladesh embassy in Iraq to make arrangements to send back the body at the expenses from the employer.
The embassy in a letter on 28 September said Israil left his job three months ago and the employer will not bear the costs.
There is no money in the welfare fund so it will not be possible to send the body back home without money from the family.
“My son went to Iraq in June last year. All of a sudden I got the news of his death. Now I just want to see the face of my son for the last time and bury him myself,” lamented Abdus Sattar while talking to Prothom Alo.
If the family wants to bring back dead bodies of their relatives, it is the responsibility of the government to take steps in this regard.
RMMRU founding chair Tasneem Siddique
Another ill-fated migrant Md Sagir died in Iraq on 26 February 2020.
His body has been kept at the morgue in Iraq for nine months.
The welfare board said the employer is unwilling to bear the cost and so he has to be buried in Iraq.
His brother Md Khabir said they want to bury him themselves and that is their sole desire.
Some deceased migrants are buried in the countries of workplaces every year. But most of the bodies are brought back home. However, the scenario has changed due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
The number of deaths has increased. But the number of dead bodies being brought back has decreased. Regular flights have been suspended for several months. There are uncertainties over bringing back dead bodies by special flights.
According to the welfare board, some 3,658 bodies were brought back home last year while some 2,496 bodies have been transported till October this year. The highest number of bodies arrived from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Biman has to incur huge losses to carry dead bodies. Biman as a commercial entity cannot provide this service.
Biman managing director Mokabbir Hossain
According to Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia, as many as 1,870 Bangladeshi migrants died in Saudi Arabia in 2019. Some 3,656 migrants have died in ten months of this year.
Some 27 per cent of the deceased migrants were buried in Saudi Arabia last year while 81 per cent of the migrants have been buried this year.
Embassy officials said the highest number of migrants has died of heart attacks, and then the next highest number of the migrants have died from coronavirus. Some 959 migrants have died from coronavirus.
The officials said the Saudi foreign ministry in March issued an order to bury dead bodies locally. It is mandatory to quickly bury dead bodies of those who died from coronavirus. Those who died for other causes will have to be quickly buried locally. Such a decision has been taken as it is not possible to keep so many dead bodies at the morgue during the time of suspension of commercial flights.
Welfare board director Showaib Ahad Khan said the matter to bear the transportation costs of dead bodies is not included in the policy. There is no separate fund for it. The employers bear the cost.
Earlier, Biman Bangladesh would carry bodies free of cost. They have stopped doing so this year.
Mokabbir said it is responsibility of the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry and the welfare board.
Non-government organisation Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) founding chair Tasneem Siddique said the government should take steps to prevent unnatural deaths of migrants.
If the family wants to bring back dead bodies of their relatives, it is the responsibility of the government to take steps in this regard, Siddique added.
*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam