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Riyadh factory fire: 5 Naogaon expats return in coffins

Published : Saturday, 31 October, 2026 at 7:20 PM

Observer Correspondent

An overwhelming gloom settled over Naogaon on Saturday afternoon as the bodies of five migrant workers, who perished in a catastrophic sofa factory fire in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were finally brought home to their grieving families after nearly three months.

The remains were repatriated aboard a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight landing at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday morning. Following official clearance by the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, the coffins were handed over to weeping relatives, who transported them to their ancestral homesteads across Naogaon town and Atrai upazila.

The tragedy traces back to August 9, when a devastating blaze swept through a sofa manufacturing unit in Riyadh, claiming the lives of 16 Bangladeshi workers in total. Twelve of the deceased hailed from Naogaon district, with eleven belonging to various villages in Atrai upazila alone.

While seven bodies were returned in the first phase on August 27, severe facial disfigurement and burn injuries created severe identification complications for the rest. It took nearly three months of painful waiting, complex legal procedures, and rigorous DNA matching to confirm their identities and return their remains.

The five identified Naogaon victims are Shahin, son of Mojnu Rahman from Par-Naogaon; Hasibul Hasan Shuvo, son of Nazmul Huda from Dubai village; Minhaj Pramanik, son of Akkas Pramanik from Madhya Boalia village; Masidul Sardar Sojib, son of Mojnu Sardar from Madhabpur village; and Sagar Ali, son of Azhar Ali from Sadhanagar village. The bodies of Mohammad Shamim and Sabbir Hossain from Natore's Naldanga upazila were also returned on the same flight.

As the sirens of the lead ambulances pierces the quiet dirt roads of Par-Naogaon, Madhabpur, Sadhanagar, and Madhya Boalia, entire villages gathered in solemn silence. The very paths where these young men were once expected to return with smiles and financial security became the routes for their lifeless bodies.

Almost all the victims were the sole earning members of their impoverished households. To send them abroad in search of solvency, their families had mortgaged their small plots of land, taken high-interest loans, or borrowed heavily from local NGOs. Instead of the prosperity they had envisioned, the families now face the crushing burden of debt alongside their unbearable grief.

In Par-Naogaon, Shahin's mother, Nargis Begum, wept inconsolably as she recalled borrowing Tk 5.70 lakh from an NGO just three months ago to send her son abroad. Shahin had promised to send money on August 12 so she could buy fruits, but the fire took his life before the transfer could ever be made, leaving behind his wife and two young children with no means to survive or repay the loan.

In Dubai village, Hasibul Hasan Shuvo’s mother, Helena Begum, shared that her final phone conversation with her son on the Friday before his death focused entirely on strategies to pay off the family's debt. In Sadhanagar, Sagar Ali's wife, Parveen Khatun, expressed her despair over raising two infant children while carrying an unpaid loan of Tk 6.50 lakh.

Similarly, Masidul's elderly father, Mojnu Sardar, lamented the cruelty of having to bury his own son in his old age instead of leaning on him for support.

Atrai Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md. Moniruzzaman expressed deep sorrow over losing 11 remittance earners from the upazila, stating that the administration provided Tk 35,000 to each family for immediate burial expenses, with a government grant of Tk 3 lakh per family scheduled for disbursement after three months.

Naogaon Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Saiful Islam confirmed that the bodies were transported free of cost under full government management and assured continued administrative assistance.

Following emotional janazas held in their respective villages on Saturday evening, most of the deceased were laid to rest. However, the body of Minhaj Pramanik arrived later in the afternoon at his village in Madhya Boalia. To grant his grieving, elderly mother her final wish to keep her son close for one last night, his burial was scheduled for Sunday morning, November 1, at 10:00 AM.

-SA