The bodies of four Bangladeshi expatriate brothers have been recovered from inside a car in the Gulf country of Oman.
The incident took place in the Muladdah area on Wednesday night. News of the deaths has cast a shadow of grief over their home region in Chattogram’s Rangunia Upazila.
The four brothers have been identified as Md Rashed, Md Shahed, Md Siraj, and Md Shahid, from the Bandarajar Para area of Lalanagar Union’s Ward No. 5.
Their younger brother Md Enam said four of the five brothers had been in Oman for a long time. Two of them are unmarried and were scheduled to return home on May 15.
The four brothers had gone out together to shop in preparation for their homeward journeys. They died in the car on the way back.
Local expatriates said the brothers left for Muladdah from the Barka area on Wednesday evening. After 8pm, one of them sent a voice message to a relative, saying they had all taken ill.
He sent his relative his location and said they were not even fit enough to get out of the car.
Later, locals informed police after seeing four people lying unconscious inside a car parked in front of a clinic in the Muladdah area. Police reached the spot, opened the car door and recovered their bodies.
It is initially suspected that they may have died due to a toxic gas build-up inside the car. However, the Oman police are waiting for a full autopsy report for confirmation.
Rafiul Islam, labour counsellor at the Bangladesh Embassy in Oman, said the bodies of the victims are under the supervision of the local police.
Arrangements will be made to send the bodies back home by next Sunday or Monday, once the paperwork is completed by the sponsor.
He said, “If you use the AC while driving for a long time, you should open and close the car windows a little. This reduces the risk of harmful gas accumulating inside the car.”
A pall of mourning has descended on Bandarajar Para following the news as the air hangs heavy with the cries of relatives and locals.
Md Yasin Chowdhury, president of the Chattogram Association of Oman, said: “This is a very sad incident. Regular contact is being maintained with the embassy to send their bodies back home quickly.”
Rabiul, a neighbour of the four brothers in Oman, said their father Mohammad Hasan died a few years ago. Their mother is also sick.
Amir Hossain Sumon, a Lalanagar Union Ward No. 5 member, told bdnews24.com: “We heard last night that the four brothers died in the same car. We heard it may have been poisoning or an issue with the car’s air conditioner, but the exact cause is not known yet.”
Sakibul Islam, a neighbour and friend to Siraj, told bdnews24.com: “Siraj and Shahid were supposed to come home on Friday. Siraj and Enam’s weddings were supposed to be arranged after they returned home. That’s why they went shopping.
“We later learned from contacts in Oman that they were inside a car. Local people found them unconscious and alerted police. Police broke open the door, rescued them, and took them to hospital.”
