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, reported a local daily.
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.
