Coffin brings back a dream

Two months ago, a young man was bid farewell by his family as he left for Spain with hopes of fulfilling his dreams. On Friday, the same young man returned home in a coffin. His relatives wept along the road from the airport to his village home. After the coffin reached Uttargaon, neighbors and acquaintances gathered to see him one last time.

The body of Bangladeshi youth Yousuf Hasan Alif, who was killed in a fire in Madrid, Spain, arrived in Bangladesh on Friday morning. The plane carrying his body landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 6:57 a.m. The flight arrived in Dhaka 23 minutes later than scheduled.

After the body was handed over to relatives at the airport, the coffin reached his village home in Uttargaon under Ward No. 7 of Kaliganj Municipality in Gazipur at around 10:30 a.m. His funeral prayer was held after the Zuhr prayer at Uttargaon Uttarpara Jame Mosque. Following the prayer, 25-year-old Alif was buried at the family graveyard.

Alif was the son of Abdul Motaleb and Rahima Khatun of Uttargaon in Kaliganj. He had gone to Spain just two months earlier with hopes of securing his family's financial future. He was working there as a food delivery rider. After submitting the required documents, he received his work permit just two days before his death.

But the joy of receiving the work permit did not last long. Just two months after arriving in the new country, he met his tragic end at a bicycle garage in Madrid.

At 7:37 pm local time on August 30, a devastating fire broke out at a bicycle garage on Calle Canarias in the Palos de la Frontera area of Arganzuela in Madrid.

At one point, Alif became trapped inside the garage. Toxic smoke filled the area and he was struggling to breathe. In a WhatsApp group with his colleagues, he wrote, “Save us, brother. I am suffocating.”

After receiving the news, 13 units of the Madrid City Council's fire service rushed to the scene. After a prolonged effort, firefighters brought the fire under control and removed the toxic gas that had accumulated inside the garage. Other electric bicycles at the site were also moved outside due to fears that the fire could spread again. Doctors later declared Alif dead at the scene.

According to family and local sources, Alif suffered the effects of toxic smoke and severe burns to his respiratory tract.

Following Alif's death, grief spread through the Bangladeshi community in Spain. On September 4, a funeral prayer was held for him at Baitul Mokarram Jame Mosque in Madrid at the initiative of the Bangladeshi expatriate community. Bangladeshi expatriates carried Alif's lifeless body on their shoulders that day.

After completing all legal procedures and formalities, his body left Madrid for Istanbul on Turkish Airlines flight TK1360 at 7:40 am local time on September 10. From Istanbul, the body was flown to Bangladesh on TK742.

After his body reached Uttargaon on Friday, the atmosphere became heavy with the cries of his relatives. The face of the young man who had recently left for a foreign country appeared in the eyes of his neighbors and acquaintances. The same home from which Alif had left just months earlier in pursuit of his dreams was where he returned for the final time.

Kaliganj Police Station Officer in Charge (OC) Md. Zakir Hossain said, “The body of expatriate Bangladeshi Yousuf Hasan Alif reached his home in the morning. He was buried at the family graveyard after the funeral prayer.”