Family of Bangladeshi killed in Lebanon urges govt to bring body back home

The family of Depali Akter, a 34-year-old Bangladeshi migrant worker killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, has appealed to the government to bring her body back home for burial.

Depali, a resident of East Shalepur village in Faridpur’s Charbhadrasan Upazila, succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital after being severely wounded in a bombing on Wednesday evening.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Lebanon confirmed her death in a condolence message on Friday.

"I just want to see my sister's face one last time," said Laizu Begum, Depali’s younger sister.

"We urge the government to make arrangements to bring her body back."

The fourth of five siblings, Depali’s life was defined by a relentless fight against poverty.

Growing up in a char in the Padma River, she used to catch fish and sell flowers to survive. Her mother died in a lightning strike eight years ago, leaving the family in further distress.

Determined to change her family's fortune, Depali first moved to Lebanon as a domestic worker in 2011 at the age of 19.

She returned home in 2018 after nearly seven years.

With the money she sent back, the family built a tin-shed house and arranged the marriages of her two sisters.

Despite falling ill shortly before her second departure, she returned to Lebanon in April 2024 to continue supporting her elderly father.

Laizu said Dipali had been living in fear since the conflict escalated.

During their last phone conversation on Wednesday, Depali mentioned she was struggling to find food, often surviving on just two pieces of bread a day.

She had moved from her previous workplace to a supposedly safer residential building in Beirut with the family she worked for.

"She told me the situation where she lived before was terrifying, and she would return there once the war stopped," Laizu said.

Shortly after that call, the building was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

"I want to bury her in our own soil," Mofazzal pleaded.

Authorities have assured the family of taking necessary steps required to repatriate the body.