The bodies of eight Bangladeshis who were killed after a boat carrying them capsized near Tunisian coast while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe were handed over to their families on Friday.
In the presence of executive magistrate Sayem Imran and a forensic expert, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport police station sub-inspector Zahangir Alam handed over the bodies from the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue.
The bodies of the trafficking victims reached Dhaka on Thursday.
Zahangir Alam, the investigation officer in the case filed over the issue, said that the bodies were handed over to families after completing legal procedure.
鈥楾unisian police conducted postmortems immediately after the incident. We did not conduct postmortem again as the bodies almost decomposed,鈥� he said.
On February 14 this year, a boat, carrying 52 passengers and a sailor from the coast of Zuwarah on its way to Europe, sank off the Tunisian coast, leaving nine people dead.
Forty-four people were rescued alive after the boat capsized.
Of the 44 survivors, 27 are Bangladeshis, eight from Pakistan, five from Syria, three from Egypt and the boatman.
Among the nine fatalities, eight were identified as Bangladeshis and one as a Pakistani national.
Of the deceased, Sajal Boiragi, Noyon Biswas, Mamun Sheikh, Kazi Sajib, and Kaiser Khalifa were residents of the Madaripur district, while Rifat, Russel, and Imrul Kayes were from Gopalganj.
Deceased Sajal Bairagi鈥檚 father, Sunil Bairagi, filed a case under Section 302/34 of the Penal Code and the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act on April 19.
According to the case statement, Sunil Bairagi alleged that his son Sajal Bairagi wanted to go to Italy in the hope of making a better life.
Sajal鈥檚 acquaintances, Yubraj Kazi, 24, and Mosharof Kazi, who reside in Libya, offered to send him to Italy legally in exchange for Tk 14 lakh, the statement said.
Zahangir Alam said that two people鈥擸ubraj and Kamal鈥� were arrested in connection with the incident.
He said that a transboundary racket was involved in the trafficking.
鈥楾he police are trying to bring all members of the racket to book,鈥� he said.