Back home, at last

Two Bangladeshi migrant workers, who were abducted in Libya by unknown militants a month ago, returned home yesterday, bringing smiles to faces of their relatives.

Helal Uddin, 46, and Anowar Hossain, 35, arrived at Shahjalal International Airport on an Emirates flight at 5:16pm. They worked for Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) Ltd, an Austrian oil company.

The two reached Malta on Friday. Yesterday morning, they left Malta and had a stopover in Dubai before reaching Dhaka, Anowar's brother-in-law Mahmud told The Daily Star.

Hailing from Noakhali, Anowar went to his brother's residence in the capital's Uttara while Helal left for his village home in Jamalpur.

Anowar is physically well, but depressed mentally, said Mahmud. “We are very happy now as he [Anowar] is among us again.”

Helal's wife Aleya Begum expressed happiness that her husband finally returned home safe and sound.

“I could hardly sleep in the last few days. We are delighted that he returned among our children,” she said.

She doesn't want her husband go to Libya again. “His life wouldn't be safe there.”

Militants on March 6 had abducted Helal and Anowar along with seven other foreigners -- four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Czech and a Ghanaian -- from the Al-Ghani oilfield in the south of Sirte.

They freed the Bangladeshis and the Ghanaian on March 24, said ASM Ashraful Islam, counsellor (labour wing) at the Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli.

From Sirte, the three tried to reach Tripoli. But they were held by the army in Misrata. The army kept the three in its custody for interrogation.

On Thursday, the VAOS brought them to its Tripoli office. The following day, they were taken to the firm's head office in Malta, said Ashraful.