Bangladeshi worker dies in Saudi fire — and yet, six months on, his lifeless body still lies in a morgue thousands of miles away, as his impoverished family in rural Bangladesh waits in silent despair.
Noor Mohammad Akash, a 25-year-old from Muradnagar upazila in Comilla, had left for Saudi Arabia with dreams of changing his family’s fate. With no land or stable income at home, Akash took on heavy debts to afford the journey. Like countless others, he believed the oil-rich kingdom would offer a better future. But that dream turned into a nightmare on a February morning when a sudden fire broke out at a petrol pump in Riyadh where he was working.
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Akash was one of the victims who never made it out alive.
The shock was unbearable for his family. His mother, Shahida Begum, now sits at home in a broken hut, clutching a worn photo of her son and crying endlessly. “He promised he would build me a brick house,” she says between sobs. “Now I just want to bury my son before I die.”
His father, Rafiqul Islam, barely speaks. A day laborer by profession, he cannot even afford the daily meals, let alone the complex and costly process of bringing his son’s body home. “We are poor and helpless,” he says, his voice trembling. “I have gone to local leaders, written to authorities, and begged on television. But nothing has happened.”
The body of Akash remains stored in a morgue in Riyadh, while the bureaucratic red tape between two governments keeps delaying its return. Human rights activists and migrant welfare groups have called this case an example of how working-class expatriates are neglected after death.
Even after all these months, no financial support has been provided to the family—not from the recruiting agency, not from the Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia, nor from the government. The family continues to live in limbo.
Former local chairman Nowab Ali Sarkar said, “The family is extremely poor. The government should take immediate steps to repatriate Akash’s body at state expense. This is a humanitarian duty.”
Muradnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Abdur Rahman responded to journalists, saying, “If the family formally applies, we will send it to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and take all steps needed.”
But the family is illiterate and has no idea how to file a formal application. Neighbors have tried to help, but the process remains stuck.
For Akash’s parents, this delay is not just a matter of bureaucracy—it is a denial of dignity. “He gave his life for us,” says Shahida Begum. “Please don’t let him rot in a foreign land. Let us bring him home.”
As this case drags on without closure, the Bangladeshi worker dies in Saudi fire tragedy exposes the harsh reality faced by low-income migrant workers and their forgotten families back home.
