ABU DHABI // Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been repatriating as many as 40 bodies a year without charge for the past few years.
It has been doing so to support the families of expatriate labourers who died overseas who were unable to afford the costs of repatriating their bodies.
Transporting a body in a coffin from the UAE to Bangladesh costs between Dh2,800 and Dh4,000.
The cost depends on the weight of the body, which could be between 90 kilograms and 140kg with the addition of the coffin, according to Iqbal Chowdhury, a regional manager of Biman in Abu Dhabi.
The airline said it repatriated 41 bodies without charge between June last year and July this year, 33 bodies in 2013, 33 bodies in 2012, and 36 bodies in 2011. That is a total of 143 bodies in the past four years.
The national carrier of Bangladesh started the charitable practice in September 2002.
“For more than 13 years we have been doing this service for our people,” said Mr Chowdhury.
“This privilege is given only to the poor workers who are unable to pay the carriage charges. Their relatives would apply to the Bangladesh high commission, then the mission sends a letter to us regarding free repatriation of the body.”
Mr Chowdhury said the service was free for all Bangladeshi expatriates whose families are unable to pay to repatriate their bodies in the event of their deaths abroad.
He added that the airline is able to provide the service in countries where it has direct flight links.
More than 9 million Bangladeshis work overseas, and about 700,000 of them reside in the UAE.
Mr Chowdhury said the service was part of the Bangladeshi government’s support for its expatriate workforce who remit billions of dollars each year.
The government also gives money to the families of deceased workers to help with the costs of burial and funeral rites.
“When the body reaches the respective airports in Bangladesh, the relatives are given 80,000 Bangladeshi taka [Dh3,753],” said Arman Ullah Chowdhury, a labour counsellor at the Bangladesh embassy in Abu Dhabi.
He said a designated desk at the airport assists the families with getting the money.
“This system was developed by the government to support the poor workers’ families in difficult times,” Mr Chowdhury added.
anwar@thenational.ae
