An increasing number of Bangladeshi migrants have been embracing unexpected death in destination countries as at least 4,261 bodies of migrant workers have returned home in one year.
Labour migrant experts said that the number of fatality increased due to the authorities鈥� failure to develop measures to ensure safe and regular migration.
Experts assumed that the number of human trafficking incidents in the form of migration, sustaining injuries in the destination countries, wage theft and untimely return also increased.
According to the Wage Earners鈥� Welfare Board data, the ever highest 4,261 bodies of migrant workers returned home in a year between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.
The number was 4,143 in FY 2022-23 and 3,782 in FY 2021-22 in the 160 destination countries.
Migrant rights activists said that the untimely death of a large number of migrants was unacceptable and it was largely preventable by taking proper actions.
The founding chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, Tasneem Siddiqui, said that the actual number of deceased workers would be much higher than the WEWB data as some were buried in the destination countries.
She observed that most of the bodies returned from the Middle East countries area young, belong to 25-35 age group, which cannot be acceptable.
鈥楳any of the deaths are untimely. So, the government should find out the cause of their death and take action to mitigate it,鈥� she said.
Activists demanded proper investigation to find the causes of the deaths.
Shariful Islam Hasan, associate director of Migration Programme and Youth Platform at BRAC, said that finding out the causes of deaths was very important to mitigate the deaths as most of the deaths were preventable.
He said that unsafe workplace, unhealthy living space, excessive work load in an extreme weather and scarcity in healthcare were causes behind many of the deaths. Some bodies bore injury marks also, he said.
He said that 61 per cent bodies returned from the Middle East against the backdrop of about 75 per cent migration to the area.
WEWB statistics showed an increasing trend of arrival of migrant bodies. The country brought home 41,053 bodies in 20 years between 2002 and 2021. Of them, a total of 10,785 bodies arrived between 2002 and 2011 and 30,268 bodies arrived between 2012 and 2021.
WEWB officials said that the highest number of bodies returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia followed by Malaysia. A number of them are women, who mostly returned dead from the KSA.
Migration experts said that death on the way to European countries had increased recently as a huge number of Bangladeshis were trying to enter Europe illegally.
Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme chairman Shakirul Islam said that many people take risky voyages to Europe for the lack of job opportunities at home. Many also take the risk for a better life in the developed countries.
A senior official of WEWB said that, according to their primary information, 68 per cent of deaths are unnatural. Road accidents caused 10 per cent of deaths while stroke and heart attack also a major cause of the deaths.
Md Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan, welfare wing joint secretary of the expatriates鈥� welfare and overseas employment ministry, said that respective missions of the government has been working to address any problems of workers abroad.
As part of that, they provide shelter for workers, facilitate healthcare and even file case on behalf of the victims to check any injustice for workers.
He stressed the workers鈥� awareness to mitigate such fatal incidents. If anyone faces the situation, the government also stands by them with different supports, he said.
The expatriate welfare desk in-charge at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Debobrata Ghosh, said that the victim families got Tk聽35,000 each for the transportation and burial of the body.
Wage Earners鈥� Welfare Board also provided financial assistance of Tk聽3 lakh for the victims who died within five years of their migration and Tk聽10 lakh as insurance claim.
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training data showed that between 2004 and 2024, nearly 13 million Bangladeshi workers went to 162 countries, 80 per cent of them to the Middle East.