From 2005 till November 2019, 40,806 bodies of expatriate workers have come back to Bangladesh. Most of the workers died after suffering a stroke.
In the last four years, 479 dead bodies of women have come back from overseas. As per BRAC Migration Programme, the main reason of death among women is stroke and almost all of the dead have come back from the middle-east.
The number of suicide is 44. Expat workers face tremendous mental pressure, long working hours between 12 and 18 hours, unhygienic living conditions, living away from family etc.
There has not been any research about the untimely death of expatriates and bodies which work with migrant workers are worried about death overseas.
Analysing deaths in the last four years, it has come to light that almost 80 percent deaths happened suddenly and the victims are between the ages 28 and 40.
Expatriate Welfare and Employment Minister Imran Ahmed, said: “In the middle-eastern countries, the heat often rises upto 40 to 50 degrees and many die of heat strokes; I mentioned at a seminar that we need to brief our workers about drinking water and safety measures in hot countries.”
We have made a pamphlet with the support of the heart foundation containing advice for those going abroad to work, these will be handed over during the pre-departure training, he added.
“We have questions about suicide and have asked the Saudi government to investigate.”
Immigration specialists have advised giving information about the culture, food and climate of the country to which the workers are going.
Head of BRAC Migration Programme, Shariful Hassan, says: “The temperature in Saudi Arabia often rises to 50 degrees Celsius and it must be mentioned how much food and drink should be consumed in that sort of heat. Also, the issue of smoking has to be addressed too because cigarettes are cheap in Middle Eastern countries.”
The high cost of migration is often associated with deaths; when a worker spends money to go there is always the tension to recover it and s/he remains desperate to earn and works 18 to 20 hours a day, lives in cramped conditions and often become illegal to earn more.”
As illegals, they cannot take advice of doctors, he observed. Of the dead, 61 per cent come from the middle-east, of which, 31 percent are from Saudi Arabia, said Shariful.
Researcher for Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Institute, Dr. Jalal Uddin Sikder, says: “There is no option for entertainment; an environment where people work happily has to be ensured.”
When a worker goes abroad, s/he usually carries overwhelming mental stress because often they have loans to pay and if their destination is the Middle East, the risks multiply, he added.