The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bodies of 11 Bangladeshi construction workers who were killed in a tragic road accident in Saudi Arabia on Thursday night will be brought back to the country soon.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh has taken necessary measures to send back the bodies of the Bangladeshi workers to the country, said sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.

The bodies are likely to reach Bangladesh very soon, one of the sources said.

The eleven Bangladeshi workers and three Pakistanis were killed and 16 others injured in the road accident at Aqaik, near Dammam, some 400 kms off capital Riyadh, around 6:00pm Saudi time on Thursday.

The dead Bangladeshis were identified as Arifur Rahman, son of Tayebur Rahman, Abdul Kader, son of Akbar, Monirul Islam, son of Khokon Ali, Mintu, son of Halim Mannan, Abdul Halim, son of Habibullah, Mahbubur Rahman, son of Ahad Ali, Al-Amin Khan, son of Ziauddin, Billal, son of Muzahid, Solaiman, son of Mohammad Khurshid, Selim Mia, son of Shahadat, and Yasin.

The accident happened as a bus carrying the workers from their work site to their hostel collided with a pick-up van at Aqaik around 9:00pm Bangladesh time on Thursday.

Quoting Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ikramul Huque, the sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The New Nation yesterday that the dead bodies were sent to the morgue of a hospital in Dammam for postmortem. After the postmortem, the bodies will be sent to Dhaka.

All the dead Bangladeshis were construction workers and nine of them were working for the Saudi Electric Company, a source said.

A few of the injured, whose conditions were not very critical, were admitted to a hospital in Dammam, King Fahd Hospital and Al Aqaik General Hospital.

The Foreign Ministry source said the Bangladesh Embassy officials have already contacted with the employers to pay any outstanding salaries and other facilities and insurance benefits of the deceased workers. The authorities will also probe the accident and the responsible will have to compensate for the loss of lives and injuries to the workers.

But, it will be difficult to realise compensation for any irregular worker, the Foreign Ministry source also said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekher Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday also instructed to immediately bring back bodies of Bangladeshi workers from Saudi Arabia.

The Adviser, also in-charge of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, gave the instruction while talking to Foreign

Secretary M Tawhid Hossain over telephone from Gaibandha.

Chowdhury, in a condolence message, expressed profound shock at the death of Bangladeshi construction workers. He prayed for the salvation of the departed souls and conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved families.

The adviser said the bodies of the Bangladeshi workers would be flown in as soon as possible.

He also said the Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia has been instructed to send an elaborate report on the cause of the accident.

Saudi Arabia is the largest labour market for Bangladesh with around 15 lakh Bangladeshis working there.