MINTU DESHWARA

For 20 days, Babul Mia lived under the constant threat of missile strikes near Tehran, cut off from his family in Bangladesh and unsure if he would survive.

The expatriate worker from Paniumda village in Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj said he spent nearly three weeks in fear as explosions shook the area around his workplace in Hasanabad, where he worked at a steel factory.

“Planes flew like flocks of birds. Missiles came time and again,” Babul told this correspondent, describing nights without sleep and days marked by uncertainty.

At one point, he decided to leave the factory and make an attempt towards the Bangladesh embassy, despite ongoing missile strikes.

“I thought it was better to try than die waiting,” he said.

Babul returned Bangladesh on March 21 via Azerbaijan with the help of the Bangladesh mission.

He left for Oman in July 2019 but later entered Iran without valid documents and found work at a factory near Tehran. Around 80 Bangladeshi workers lived in cramped quarters, with eight to nine men sharing a single room.

He said the situation escalated on February 28 this year

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