The body of Md Hadisur Rahman, who was killed on March 3 in a rocket attack on a Bangladeshi vessel stranded at a Ukraine port, reached Dhaka on Monday.
After the completion of formalities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the body of the Banglar Samriddhi third engineer was taken to his home village at Betagi in Barguna district.
Airport Executive Director Group Captain AHM Touhid ul Ahsan confirmed that the body was handed over to Hasidur’s younger brother Golam Mawla Prince and they started for Betagi by road at 1:00pm.
Prince said they hoped to reach their village by 9:00pm. Hasidur’s namaz-e-janaza will be held at the field behind their home at 10am on Tuesday, before he is buried at the family graveyard in the afternoon.
Hadisur's body had been scheduled to arrive on Sunday night, but more than a hundred flights at Bucharest Airport were canceled on Saturday due to heavy snowfall.
Banglar Samriddhi, a ship of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), had been chartered by the Danish company Delta Corporation. The ship sailed from Mumbai via Turkey to the Ukrainian port of Olvia on February22.
The ship was scheduled to sail from Olvia to the Italian port of Ravenna on February 24 with cement clay, but it became stranded when the Russian invasion began the day before. A total 29 crew members were on board.
After Hasidur was killed on March 3, the surviving 28 sailors were evacuated to Romania on March 6, and they returned to Dhaka on March 9. Hadisur’s body had been preserved in a bunker near Ukraine as the deteriorating situation in the country delayed procedures to bring him home.
A family left shattered
On March 3, Hadisur left his cabin on the Banglar Samriddhi to make a phone call home. He had uttered a word or two to his family before the missile struck.
His younger brother Golam Mawla Prince, cousin Sohag Hawladar, and aunt Shirin Akter Mumtaz were at the airport to receive the body, along with Barguna 2 MP Shawkat Hachanur Rahman Rimon.
Shirin told Dhaka Tribune: “Hadisur was supposed to return to the country on leave in order to get married. But now, he will never wear sherwani.”
Sohag said he had recently asked Hadisur to come home and visit. “He returned, but as a corpse. How are we supposed to deal with this unbearable pain?”.
Barguna-2 MP Shawkat Hachanur Rahman Rimon said: “Hadisur is the pride of our village. The people of Barguna will mourn his death.”
Monwar Mokarram, Director (MRP and Consular) of the Foreign Ministry, was also present at the airport to receive and pay homage to Hadisur.
He said: "With the joint efforts of the government, it has been possible to bring Hadisur’s body back to Bangladesh. We will do whatever is necessary for his family."
