August 9, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-us-Sani 10, 1424

RIYADH, Aug 8: Nearly 100 bodies of Bangladeshi expatriate workers are lying in morgues in Saudi Arabia waiting to be sent back to Bangladesh for burial.

The Bangladesh government says it is helpless to either bury the bodies or repatriate them.

Bodies of expatriate workers take considerable time before they are sent to the home countries. At times this delay is also because of lack of finances, and of local formalities also take considerable period of time.

The Somaishi Central Hospital in Riyadh alone houses 27 bodies of Bangladeshi workers, according to a list obtained by the Saudi daily Arab News.

Mohammed Ali Akbar, charge d’affaires at the Bangladesh Embassy, said: “These bodies have neither been repatriated nor buried locally for quite some time now because of the complex official formalities which have not been completed.” Some of the bodies have been stranded in the morgues for six months or more, according to medical reports.

The Bangladesh government recently decided to fly back bodies of its citizen free of cost by the national airline, Biman.