For four Bangladeshi expatriates, the long-awaited journey home from Saudi Arabia ended in tragedy before they could even reach the airport.
After spending years in the kingdom, they had packed their belongings and set out from Taif for Jeddah airport, carrying tickets for their return to Bangladesh. But a road crash in Al-Khurma, Taif, claimed all four lives.
The accident occurred at around 2pm local time on Monday (7 September) in the Al-Khurma area of Taif.
Among the dead were two residents of Kanaighat in Sylhet — Abdul Karim and Khaled Ahmed, both from Lama Taluk village in the Gachhbari area of South Banigram Union.
According to family members and local sources, Karim and Khaled had been living in Saudi Arabia for a long time. Having completed preparations for their return, they left Taif with their luggage, heading for Jeddah airport to catch their flights home.
They never made it.
Their vehicle was involved in the crash in Al-Khurma, killing them at the scene.
News of their deaths soon reached their families in Bangladesh. The homes where relatives had been waiting to welcome them back were instead filled with grief and the cries of mourning.
South Banigram Union Parishad Chairman Lokman Uddin visited the bereaved families after learning of the deaths.
“It is an extremely tragic incident. After hearing about the deaths of the two expatriates, I visited their families. This is an irreparable loss for both families,” he said.
The latest tragedy has added to a growing toll among expatriates from Kanaighat.
Eight expatriate workers from the upazila have reportedly died in road accidents over the past three months. Five were killed in a road crash in Qatar in June, followed by the death of another expatriate in a road accident in Saudi Arabia in July.
Before the families had time to recover from those losses, news of yet another tragedy arrived — two more expatriates from the same upazila had died on the road while preparing to return home.
For their families, the journey that was meant to bring loved ones back after years apart has instead become a heartbreaking wait for their bodies to return.
FP/A
