Authorities have confirmed the death of three Bangladeshi workers – two of whom were to fly home next month – in a fire in the UAE emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Family members of the three victims appealed the government to take immediate steps to have their loved ones’ remains repatriated, so they can buried in their home districts.
The three deceased men, all from Chittagong, were burnt to death in the early hours of Friday in a fire at a two-storey building in Abu Dhabi’s Mussafah industrial area.
Abdus Shukkur, Selim Uddin, and Enamul Haque, from Chittagong’s Fatikchhari and Raozan upazilas, were killed in the blaze.
Two other Chittagong men were among five Bangladeshis severely injured in the blaze.
Sekandar and Mohiuddin of Raozan upazila sustained injuries in the fire, which left 10 dead and 30 injured, all of whom were migrant workers of various nationalities.
The ground floor of the two-storey building housed several trade stores and car repair shops, and the second floor, designated as a warehouse, was illegally rented to workers, according to the Khaleej Times.
The fire broke out at around 3:30am following a loud explosion, nearby residents said.
Nearby residents said the building’s shops contained compressors and gas cylinders.
The owner of the building had been taken into custody by Abu Dhabi police, the Khaleej Times report said.
Shukkur’s only son, six-year-old Tanvir Wasfi, said his father moved abroad for work when he was an eight-month old baby.
“I have no memory of direct contact with my father. I grew up seeing his photos and talking with him on the phone. I was planning how I would spend my time with him when he came on March 3. But he is gone,” said the little boy, crying.
Popi Akhter, Shukkur’s wife, was seen weeping loudly for her husband to be returned to her.
Shukkhur, from Suabil in Fatikchhari upazila, was said to have bought many items for the family in preparation for his return home, but everything had been destroyed in the blaze.
A similar scene of grief and despair was found at the Babunagar home in Fatikchhari upazila of another victim of the fire, Selim Uddin.
Selim’s wife Sakhara Begum said her husband was scheduled to come to Bangladesh on March 1.
She said the news of his death had devastated her and the couple’s three children.
“How can we live now?” she asked, weeping.
Her sons, themselves overcome with grief, could do little to console their mother.
Sobhan Sowdagor, a resident of Raozan upazila’s Noapara area, wept silently after hearing of his son Ekramul’s death.
The elderly man said he had spoken with his son a few days ago and could not believe his son had died.
“Carrying one’s own child’s dead body is the saddest thing a father can experience,” he said.
Sekandar and Mohiuddin, the two Raozan upazila men who managed to survive, were critically injured in the fire.