With reporting from Neha Rashid
A Bangladeshi man has died in an accidental gas explosion at a Qatar shipyard just days before he was reportedly due to return home to his family for a surprise Eid visit.
Nurul Amin Mintu was killed last Wednesday, June 29, when a gas cylinder exploded at a yard run by his employers Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM), an official at the Bangladesh Embassy in Doha said.
Speaking to Doha News, counselor Mohammed Sherajul Islam said:
“He died in an accident. The post-mortem said he had burn injuries due to an explosion of a gas cylinder.”
An unnamed Indian man is also believed to have been killed in the blast, the official added.
However, the Indian Embassy in Qatar refused to comment to Doha News about the incident.
No further details of the explosion have been released and Nakilat-Keppel could not be reached for comment.
The company runs the Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma yard in Ras Laffan Industrial City and describes itself as “one of the Middle East’s leading shipyards.”
According to its website, the firm provides “repair, conversion and construction services for marine vessels, offshore and onshore structures.”
Family’s ‘shock’
Mintu’s body was flown back to Dhaka on Friday and he was buried at his village home in Narsingdi’s Raipura the following day.
His company has paid his salary to his family, as well as allowances and holiday pay that amount to QR36,700, the embassy official said.
“This is not compensation. That will be decided by a court later,” Islam added.
Mintu had been working in Qatar for nearly two years following 22 years in the UAE.
He had been due to return to Dhaka last Friday to make a surprise visit to his wife and two daughters in time for Eid Al Fitr, Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star reported.
He reportedly last spoke to his wife on the phone the night before the incident.
“We are very much shocked by his sudden and tragic death,” Kamal, Mintu’s brother-in-law, told the newspaper.
Mintu’s wife Monira Ameen Moni, said her husband had moved the family from Narsingdi to Dhaka to ensure his children got a better education.
She told the newspaper:
“He loved his daughters deeply. I don’t know what’ll happen now. I am worried about my daughters’ future.”
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