What we know about a Bangladeshi worker killed in the Israeli attack on Lebanon

“Nizam could not return home because of the war and Israeli airstrikes because she no longer had valid documents,” said Sayera Begum, Nizam’s older sister.

TBS report

November 3, 2024, 12:30 PM

Last modified: November 3, 2024, 12:58 PM

File photo of Mohammad Nizam Uddin, a migrant worker from Bangladesh who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the war-torn Lebanese capital Beirut on Saturday, November 2, 2024. Photo: Collected

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File photo of Mohammad Nizam Uddin, a migrant worker from Bangladesh who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the war-torn Lebanese capital Beirut on Saturday, November 2, 2024. Photo: Collected

Nizam Uddin went to Lebanon as a migrant worker about twelve years ago, but did not get the job he was supposed to get when he reached the country.

He had already borrowed Tk7 lakh to go to Lebanon.

Struggling to find a stable source of income, Nizam opted to do whatever work he could get his hands on, effectively turning him into an illegal migrant worker in the war-torn country.

The 32-year-old man from a village in the Kasba upazila of Brahmanbaria, the youngest son of the family, was killed yesterday (November 2) during an Israeli airstrike on a coffee shop in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

According to the release from the Bangladesh Embassy in Beirut, Nizam was on his way to work when the airstrike killed him.

However, relatives said the cafe where he died was his workplace.

“Nizam could not return home because of the war and Israeli airstrikes because she no longer had valid documents,” said Sayera Begum, Nizam’s older sister.

“Despite limited income, he managed to build a small tin shed house for our mother six months before her death,” she added.

Nizam’s family received the news of his death through his friends last night.

The family, still dealing with the grief of losing their youngest son, now only wants his body back.

“We urge the authorities to expedite the process of bringing Nizam’s body home,” Sayera Begum said.

Muhammad Shahriar Moktar, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Kasba, said they had already contacted the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment.

“Nizam’s body will be returned to Bangladesh once the situation in Beirut stabilizes,” he confirmed.

Amid the ongoing conflict in Lebanon, 268 Bangladeshi nationals returned safely from Lebanon to Bangladesh on October 31.

Nizam is the first Bangladeshi to die in the ongoing conflict in Lebanon.