Md Shamim Hossain, 30, of Naldanga in Natore, went abroad eight months ago hoping to change his and his family’s fortunes. Three months ago he died in a fire at a sofa factory in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He never saw his four-month-old daughter in person, and never heard her call him father. He used to see her on video calls and dreamed of holding her when he came home. That dream was never fulfilled; instead, his family received his body.
The baby lost her father about a month after she was born.
Shamim was killed in the fire at the Riyadh sofa factory on 9 August. The bodies were so badly burned that identifying the dead was difficult, and his body reached his village home on 31 October, nearly three months later. Relatives from different areas gathered to see him one last time.
He was buried on Saturday afternoon after a janaza in Sripurpara village of Khajura union, Naldanga upazila, attended by Naldanga Assistant Commissioner (Land) and executive magistrate Md Shamim Hossain and leaders of various political parties. His body had arrived in Dhaka on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight that morning and was handed to the family after legal formalities.
Shamim was the son of Md Zakir Hossain of Dighirpar in No. 3 Khajura union, Naldanga upazila.
According to his family and local sources, Shamim married Nazma Khatun Mitu of neighbouring Halti Kholabaria five years ago. The couple saw many doctors when no child came, and she became pregnant after four years. To support the household, Shamim left for work abroad eight months ago while she was pregnant. He was overjoyed at the birth and dreamed of coming home to hold his only child.
His wife Mitu broke down in tears at the sight of his body and fainted repeatedly. “I last spoke to him on the morning of 9 August,” she said. “He saw our daughter on video call every day. Now whom will I show her to, whom will I talk to? Whom will I tell how my child is doing? My little one has become fatherless. He will never call me again or ask after his child.”
His mother, Shahinur Begum, said in tears: “I thank the government for returning my son’s body to us. My son went to Saudi Arabia with great hopes, and today he came back as a body. My four-month-old granddaughter never saw her father’s face alive. I ask the government to do something for her future.”
His father, Zakir Hossain, said: “He was my only son. The household ran on his income. I borrowed a lot of money to send him abroad. My son has gone, leaving his four-month-old daughter fatherless and his wife a widow. I ask the government to do something for my granddaughter’s future.”
Naldanga Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shammi Akter said the body reached Dhaka on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight on Saturday morning, was handed to the family after legal formalities and sent to his village home, and was buried after a janaza in the afternoon.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report