TDS Desk

The arrival of dead bodies of Bangladeshi migrants from abroad increased to a record high in 2024 with 4,813 corpses received by the authorities last year. This figure is 261 more than the 4,552 corpses received in 2023, according to statistics from the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board (WEWB).

The annual arrival of dead bodies of migrants has increased every year since 2021, when 3,818 corpses were received.

In 2022, WEWB received 3,904 dead bodies of Bangladeshi migrants at the three international airports of the country.

The latest statistics was published on January 14 on the WEWB website.

Every year, a large number of migrant workers go abroad with dreams but many of them return home in coffins after facing dire situations in the Gulf region—the main destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers—and various other parts of the globe.

However, accurate reasons behind their deaths, many of whom die at a young age, remain unexplained.

The statistics shows that from 1993 until last year, WEWB received 56,769 dead bodies of migrants.

Jasiya Khatoon, director of Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants (WARBE) Development Foundation, said there could be multiple reasons behind untimely deaths of many Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad.

There are issues related to workplace safety while the workers also live in sub-standard accommodation. Moreover, they remain in extensive pressure to regain the money they invest as migration costs. They work for additional hours and don’t consume enough food, she told this newspaper over the phone.

“‘Heart attack’ is commonly mentioned [in the death certificates issued by the receiving countries] as a cause of death. But there should be further medical examination to know the cause of death accurately,” she added.

Jasiya suggested the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should work combinedly to increase monitoring on migrant workers to prevent their untimely deaths.

Bangladeshi missions abroad have a big role to play to this end, she added.

WEWB maintains the statistics of migrant deaths as it issues a cheque of Tk 35,000 against each dead body as burial and transportation costs as part of its welfare activities.

Besides, it gives Tk 3 lakh against each death as compensation.

The WEWB statistics, however, did not segregate how many dead bodies arrive from which countries last year.

Between July 2016 and June 2022, , according to WEWB annual reports, Bangladesh received 17,871 dead bodies, 67.4 percent of which arrived from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

Of the corpses, 5,666 arrived from Saudi Arabia followed by 1,913 from the UAE and 1,893 from Oman.

The six GCC countries together have hired 76.3 percent of Bangladesh’s total 1.6 crore outbound workers between 1976 and 2023, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

According to the report “The Deaths of Migrants in the Gulf”, published in 2022 by the Vital Signs Partnership (VSP), alongside poor occupational health and safety practices, low-paid migrant workers in the Gulf region are exposed to a series of cumulative risks to their health, including heat and humidity, air pollution, abusive working conditions, psychosocial stress, hypertension and chronic kidney disease.

However, the deaths of migrants in the Gulf region in many cases remain “effectively unexplained” even though corpses continue to pile up, it said.

An official of WEWB said while they work to ensure welfare of migrant workers they also make workers aware of health issues before their migration abroad.

Preferring anonymity, the official said one reason behind the increase in dead bodies could be that outflow of migrant workers increased in recent years.