An Iranian missile strike in the United Arab Emirates killed a Bangladeshi migrant worker on Saturday, his son has told Sky News, as regional tensions escalate following retaliatory attacks between Iran and Israel. Saleh Ahmed, 55, was delivering drinking water in Ajman when he was hit by debris from the missile, according to his son, Abdul Haque.
“My father went to deliver water,” Haque said, speaking from Bangladesh. “That’s when an Iranian missile landed on him and his car.” Ahmed died at the scene ten minutes later, Haque added. The attack occurred on the first day of what has been described as a period of heightened conflict between Iran and its regional adversaries.
Saleh Ahmed had worked in the UAE for 25 years, sending remittances of less than £500 per month to support his wife and four children in Bangladesh. His son stated that his father would not have been working outside had he known about the escalating conflict. “If he knew he wouldn’t travel out like that. We are hungry people, we have nothing and our family is very big. For sure my father didn’t know about the war, or else he wouldn’t have gone outside,” Abdul Haque said.
Haque described his father as a close friend, particularly after joining him in Ajman five years ago to work at the same water company. “As a child, I’d only spend a month or two here and there with him. But for the last five-and-a-half years we were more like friends. Eating together and everything, we did it all together like friends,” he said. “You don’t receive friends like my dad anywhere in the world.”
The death of Saleh Ahmed highlights the vulnerability of the large South Asian migrant workforce in the Gulf region, who often occupy roles in construction, hospitality, transport, and domestic service. These workers, originating from countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, comprise a significant portion of the population and contribute substantially to the economies of the region through remittances.
According to his son, Ahmed progressed from various manual labor jobs – including work at hotels, car washing, and groundskeeping – to a stable position at the water company over the past seven or eight years. “He did a good job, it was in the service of people, delivering drinking water to people,” Haque said. “We never imagined this would suddenly happen.”
The family had been using the money sent by Ahmed to build a house in their village in Sylhet, northeastern Bangladesh, but construction remains incomplete, with only a concrete foundation currently in place. Haque also noted his father’s generosity, regularly donating to charity, local mosques, and gifting meat to friends and neighbors during Eid.
Saleh Ahmed last visited his family in Bangladesh four months ago, according to Prothom Alo English. Due to airspace closures over the UAE, the repatriation of his body for burial is currently delayed. Abdul Haque expressed the family’s distress at the delay in being able to lay his father to rest.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry confirmed Saleh Ahmed’s death on Monday, stating that ensuring the safety and security of the over six million Bangladeshis living in the Middle East is a top priority. However, the government has not announced plans for an evacuation of its citizens, instead urging them to “remain vigilant and strictly follow guidance issued by respective host governments.”
“I pray for everyone to come quickly to a resolution,” Abdul Haque said, referring to the conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran. “I’m seeing videos of many people dying, and I don’t want someone else to die like my father died. I don’t want any other people to lose their parents like we lost our dad.”
Middle East Eye reported that Iranian missiles also killed two other Bangladeshi nationals in the UAE and Bahrain.
