Compensation for victims of UAE’s deadliest crash finally arrives

ABU DHABI // The families of the Bangladeshis killed in the UAE’s deadliest road crash are to receive compensation after more than two years of delays.

The Bangladeshi embassy has now received a Dh3 million cheque from Al Ain Court, to be divided between 15 of the victims’ families – Dh200,000 each.

The funds are expected to be transferred within the next 10 days.

On February 4, 2013, the bus crash in Al Ain killed 21 people, 19 of them Bangladeshis, one Indian and one Egyptian.

A lorry ploughed into the back of the bus carrying 45 maintenance workers just before 8am on the E30, the Old Truck Road, next to Al Rawda Palace on the outskirts of the city.

Since then, the families, who were promised compensation, have had to survive without their breadwinners.

Sixteen of the Bangladeshi victim’s families have been pursuing compensation claims through their embassy.

The embassy has received enough to compensate 15 of those families, with the remainder expected to be delivered later this week.

“We expect another Dh200,000 during this week, then the entire Dh3.2 million will be transferred to the Bangladesh ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, which will deposit in accounts of victims’ families,” said Mohammed Arman Ullah Chowdhury, labour counsellor at the Bangladeshi embassy.

Relatives of the other three Bangladeshi victims, the Indian and Egyptian have filed cases independently. Their respective embassies have not been involved.

Mosammat Monirun Nessa, 37, wife of Shirajul Islam from Chittagong, said on Sunday that she had struggled to support her family since the crash.

“After losing my husband I lost everything. My brother supported me through these years,” said Ms Nessa, a mother of two children; Mohammed, 13 and Meherun, eight.

She said she intended to use the money to benefit her children.

“I would invest in their upbringing, education and buying lands for them to secure their future.”

She said that despite the positive news, she still feared that the full amount may not reach her.

“We are afraid of misappropriation of the money. So please arrange the transfer of money to our accounts properly,” Ms Nessa pleaded of the embassy.

Shah Alam, 80, the father of Muhammad Borhan Uddin, said: “I am too old to do anything for my family [without] this support, and we are very concerned how the money would reach to us.”

“I have to arrange the marriage of my daughter and two sons and I would invest for their welfare,” the Chittagong man said.

Mr Chowdhury assured the families that the money would be deposited in full, as the embassy had used its own legal team and not hired outside lawyers.

The families thanked the UAE for the compensation, which amounted to more than 4.2 million Bangladeshi taka per person.

Anwara Begum, mother of victim Uddin, said she would use the compensation for “[our] daughter’s wedding, building our home and buying a piece of land for our children are our priority”.

“We would also hold a special prayer ceremony for my son,” said the 60-year-old, who also has two other sons.

“We are very old to do any work, so this money means a lot to us.”

The embassy thanked Al Ain Court, as well as the government for its help throughout the proceedings.

anwar@thenational.ae