Body of migrant worker arrives home from Serbia

The dead body of a Bangladeshi migrant worker from Manikganj who died in Serbia last month, arrived home last night.

A Qatar Airways flight carrying the body of Badal Khandaker landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 9:15 pm, said an official at the expatriates' welfare desk set up at the airport by the expatriates' welfare ministry.

Later, the welfare desk handed over the body to his family members upon completion of necessary procedure, the official said over phone.

Badal Khandaker went to Serbia in November last year with hopes of a well-paying job that would ensure a better life for his family back home.

Recruiters in Bangladesh told the 48-year-old man from Singair upazila of Manikganj that he would earn between Tk 60,000 and Tk 70,000 a month working for a company in the European country.

However, upon reaching Serbia he found that the company did not exist.

In the early hours of March 7, while trying to make a journey by a lorry on the way to Italy, Badal suddenly fell unconscious and subsequently died in Serbia.

A relative of the deceased, Saddam Hossain, said Badal borrowed about Tk 6 lakh to pay the cost of migration.

Now, his family is unable to bear the burden of the loan, he said, adding the family needs support from concerned authorities.

Earlier, upon receiving information, the Bangladesh Embassy in Italy identified the deceased through an honorary consul in Serbia, where Bangladesh does not have a mission.

Saddam said after failing to get the job upon arrival in Serbia, Badal was under tremendous mental pressure.

He communicated with his recruiters in Bangladesh but they did not help him find another job.

Badal lived on the money he took along with him and later borrowed from Bangladesh. He even took shelter at a refugee camp in Belgrade, Saddam said.

The middleman who Badal paid the money for migration to Serbia lured him with another offer of migration to Italy, this time asking for Tk 5 lakh, Saddam added.

Badal had gone to Serbia legally through obtaining manpower clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Saddam also said.