Dh3.2m blood money for bus crash victims’ families still held by Bangladeshi ministry

Mohammad Golam Rabbani, centre, from Bangladesh was among injured in the 2013 Al Ain road crash. Pawan Singh / The National

ABU DHABI // Bangladeshis who lost members of their family in a 2013 Al Ain bus crash are still waiting to claim Dh3.2million in blood money from their own authorities.

Two months ago the Al Ain Court handed over a Dh3.2 million cheque to the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi, which then transferred it to Bangladesh Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment a month later.

Sixteen of the families were awarded Dh200,000 each after the crash, the deadliest in the history of the UAE.

On February 4, 2013, the bus crash in Al Ain left 21 workers dead – 19 Bangladeshis, one Indian and one Egyptian.

The National spoke to victims’ families in Chittagong who are trying to have the funds released by the Bangladeshi ministry.

Muhammad Jahangeer Alam, 28, whose younger brother Muhammad Borhan Uddin was killed, told the ministry: “I lost my brother, now what evidence do you want? It’s going to be three years and we kept providing testimonials.”

Not a single penny has been transferred to bank accounts so far, Mr Alam said from Chittagong.

He said that he has made sure that the money was transferred to the ministry from the UAE. “We gave power of attorney to our embassy in Abu Dhabi and furnished all attested documents through the ministry itself. What else do they want?

“Due to such delay I am afraid of misappropriation of the money. I spent so much money travelling to Dhaka to claim the money,” he said.

“That is the blood money for my brother and it belongs to us, not the government. We are in dire need of this to support us,” Mr Alam said.

The embassy in Abu Dhabi obtained power of attorney from 16 family members, while relatives of three Bangladeshis, one Indian and one Egyptian filed cases themselves, of which missions do not have any record.

Families still are suffering under tremendous financial pressure, having lost their breadwinners.

Destitute families say that they are being exploited under the guise of paperwork and requests for more identification documents to claim the money.

“We are thankful to the UAE government but sceptical of misappropriation of the compensation money by its own people,” said Mosammat Monirun Nessa, 37, wife of Shirajul Islam.

“We heard that about 4.2 million Bangladeshi taka (Dh200,000) reaching here but nobody even informed us about this and not a single taka has been transferred to our accounts,” Ms Nessa said.

“I am surprised people are delaying the blood money of dead people even they received it and possessed all required documents long back,” Ms Nessa said who has two children, Mohammed, 13, and Meherun, 8.

The Chittagong resident said that she has been surviving solely on the charity of others.

Arman Ullah Chowdhury, a labour counsellor at the Bangladeshi embassy in Abu Dhabi, confirmed that the Dh3.2 million was transferred to the Bangladesh Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment to distribute among the victims’ families.

When informed about the families’ complaints, Mr Chowdhury said that the embassy would enquire and push the ministry to transfer the amount as soon as possible.

“The money belongs to the victims’ families and I am sure it would reach them soon,” he said.