An ambulance is weaving through the chaos of the cargo depot at Dhaka’s international airport, navigating a careful route through trolleys stacked high with boxes, men hauling rolls of cloth and trucks reversing into loading bays. It stops and, shortly afterwards, from between the towering piles of goods, a coffin is wheeled out. Then another. And another. On this one day, the bodies of 10 migrant workers are being returned from Saudi Arabia back home to their families in Bangladesh.
Among those present to meet the coffins is Khadija Begum, whose 35-year-old husband, Abdul Jalil Shaikh, had gone to work in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of 2023. He left with his family’s dreams on his shoulders and now is coming back in a wooden box, most of his 500,000 taka (£3,750) debt – the price he paid a recruitment agent for his job – returning with him.
The only official information his family have about how he died is a death certificate, and a piece of paper from the Bangladeshi embassy in Saudi Arabia taped to the lid of his coffin: “Cause of death: natural. Postmortem: not desired. Compensation: no.”
Most of the other nine coffins have an identical piece of paper taped to their lids.
Begum doesn’t understand what could have happened. She has managed to talk to some of his co-workers who said he died of a stroke, but without a postmortem, the family will never know what really caused him to die so suddenly. Or get any compensation from Saudi Arabia.
Begum has been left as the sole provider for their two children, with her deceased husband’s debt now her responsibility. “I’ve no idea what the future holds. I’m in big trouble and I don’t know what to do,” she says.
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Jalil is among half a million Bangladeshis, many of them young, healthy men, who left their families to find work in Saudi Arabia in 2023. According to Shariful Hasan, the associate director of the migration programme at Brac, a Bangladeshi development agency, the pipeline of workers from Bangladesh to the Gulf kingdom will increase dramatically if Saudi Arabia is, as expected, awarded the right to host the 2034 World Cup by Fifa later this year.
Yet for thousands, the trip is a one-way ticket. Between 2008 and 2022, at least 13,685 Bangladeshis died in Saudi Arabia, according to Bangladeshi government records. In 2022 alone, 1,502 died, a rate of more than four a day.
If Fifa has learned anything from Qatar it should be that it must pay attention to human rights risks in host countriesElla Knight, Amnesty International
It is unclear whether the death rate is within the expected range given the large numbers of Bangladeshis who migrate to Saudi Arabia.
Yet a Guardian investigation has found that most of the deaths appear to be unexplained, attributed on death certificates issued by the Saudi authorities to “natural causes”, or ascribed terms such as “cardiac arrest” or “respiratory arrest”, suggesting that no attempt has been made to investigate the underlying causes.
According to official records, between January and October 2022, 76% of deaths of Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia were recorded as “natural” by the Bangladeshi authorities, based on documents provided by the Saudi authorities.
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The long list of the dead includes men in their late-50s and 60s, but in many cases the deceased were, like Jalil, young men: the average age of those whose deaths were classified as natural in 2022 was 44. Life expectancy for men in Bangladesh is 71.
“[Terms such as] ‘cardiac arrest’ provide no information on the underlying cause of death and should not appear on a death certificate,” says a report on migrant worker deaths in the Gulf by the human rights group FairSquare, which estimated that more than 50% of migrant worker deaths in the Gulf are unexplained.
Instead, human rights groups say that other factors such as harsh working and living conditions, exploitation, stress and heatstroke could be contributing to the mortality rate.
The overall picture is of one of the wealthiest states in the world treating its migrant labourers in the “worst possible way”, says Hasan. He points out that Bangladeshi migrant workers can depart for Saudi Arabia only if they have passed a medical at a centre approved by the Saudi authorities and says that the number of Bangladeshi deaths on Saudi soil being attributed to natural causes is already alarming. He predicts the death toll will rise if Saudi Arabia is awarded the World Cup.
“They are fit when they leave, so why should they be dying?” Hasan says. “If it were European or US citizens, questions would be asked. Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia must investigate the causes of these deaths.”
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The findings of the investigation and the sight of coffins being wheeled out of airports echo the Guardian’s reporting of the conditions faced by migrant workers in Qatar before the 2022 World Cup. This should raise serious concerns over whether a future tournament will once again be marred by widespread labour abuses and unexplained deaths, say human rights groups.
They say that Fifa, which faced severe pressure to explain the deaths and mistreatment of migrant workers involved in preparations for the World Cup in Qatar, must urgently demand that Saudi Arabia comply with internationally recognised human rights standards before anointing the Gulf kingdom as the host of the 2034 tournament.
“If Fifa has learned anything from Qatar it should be that it must pay close attention to human rights risks in potential host countries before awarding them the World Cup,” says Ella Knight, Amnesty International’s migrant labour rights researcher.
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Saudi Arabia is notorious for its treatment of migrant workers, who, Amnesty International says, “continue to be abused and exploited under the sponsorship system … thousands arbitrarily detained in inhumane conditions, tortured and otherwise ill-treated, and involuntarily returned to their home”.
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“They leave with high hopes but when they arrive, they understand the reality,” says Hasan. “They have to work for 12 to 18 hours a day, they may not have their passport, they are not free. It’s like modern slavery.”
As soon as the moneylenders found out my husband had died, they started paying random visits and threatening usRojina, widow of migrant worker
Staging a World Cup in Saudi Arabia will require massive works to build and upgrade transport networks, hotels, training bases and stadiums. With the tournament due to expand to 48 teams, the kingdom will be required to have 14 stadiums, each of which must hold at least 40,000 spectators.
Bangladeshis will comprise a significant proportion of the migrant workforce required to make this a reality. According to official data, fewer than 0.5% of migrating Bangladeshis are working in professional roles. Instead, they go to do what Hasan calls the most “dangerous, difficult and dirty” jobs, usually in sectors such as construction.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development said: “Saudi Arabia is the host of the largest number of expatriate workers in the region, and we recognise their valuable contribution to the country’s development. We are committed to providing a safe and fair working environment for all employees, including the over 2.5 million Bangladeshi workers in the kingdom.”
It said that the country maintained “robust regulations and standards to safeguard workers’ rights, and thorough investigations are conducted into all workplace incidents”.
“In tragic cases where deaths occur, they are handled in line with international standards – and autopsy is performed in cases where it is required. Death certificates are issued transparently, adhering to established and regulated protocols,” the statement said. “Suggestions of negligence or a lack of transparency in this regard are unfounded. It is important to note free healthcare is provided to everyone in critical situations, regardless of background.”
Fifa and the Bangladeshi government did not respond to requests to comment.
From the heart-wrenching scenes at Dhaka’s airport, ambulances set out across the country bearing the bodies home. Among them is Abdul Kalam, who had worked on a farm for six years and, according to his family, suddenly “died of a stroke” aged 32; Sujan, whose family said was in his late 20s and in perfect health, died in his sleep; and Amir Hossen, 45, who also had no medical issues according to his wife, but died “of some kind of stroke” shortly after speaking to her on the phone, the term that has become used by families to explain a sudden and unexplained death.
It is already past midnight when one worker’s coffin – a man known as Shahadat, whose body was flown home a few days earlier – is driven back to his village. His 10-year-old son, Rajin, and five-year-old daughter, Saima, are pushed to the front of the crowd waiting to receive his body.
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His death certificate states he died of “cardiac and respiratory arrest for unknown reasons”. His wife, Rojina, says the moneylenders are already chasing her. “As soon as they found out my husband had died, they started paying random visits and threatening us with legal action. But how will I repay them? I have nothing left,” she says. “I keep asking myself what will I do with our lives, but I see only darkness.”
The next morning, a group of young men are watching the burial rituals. In this village, at least one person from every household has migrated, and each of these mourners plans to do the same. “There is a risk, but there are good opportunities abroad and none here. We’re all going to go,” says one, launching his arm into the air to signal a plane taking off.
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