‘Finally a place to stay’

After passing four days under open sky near the Bangladesh embassy in Hanoi, 17 Bangladeshis, who were defrauded by Bangladeshi agents, brokers and a Vietnamese company, were provided accommodation on Thursday.

The company that hired them in Vung Tau finally took responsibility to provide hotel accommodation, Bangladesh Ambassador to Vietnam, Samina Naz, wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday night.

It was possible "after our intense negotiation with Vietnam Foreign Office, Vietnam Police & the Owner of the Company group of 17 people working with", she said.

The 17 Bangladeshis had traveled to Hanoi from Vung Tau, around 1,677 kilometres away from Hanoi, and had been demanding repatriation.

Their company, PHX, hired them for jobs early January but hardly could provide jobs, said Faridul Islam, one of the migrants. "As we asked, our madam (PHX owner) told us -- Atiq and Saiful [Bangladeshi brokers] brought you using my company. They could not give jobs, what can I do?" .

Faridul said as they recently talked to the media, Atiq and Saiful threatened them of grave consequences and they traveled to Hanoi.

On July 3, the embassy repatriated 11 Bangladeshis. Since then, 45 more traveled to Hanoi, who and the embassy in cooperation with police accommodated. When the group of 17 traveled and took position at a roadside near the Bangladesh embassy, the embassy held meetings with Vietnam authorities, and finally the company owner took responsibility of accommodating the 17 Bangladeshis.

"We described the issues we faced in Vung Tau in front of Bangladesh embassy officials, police and the company owner. Our company's madam could not withstand it and finally agreed to provide us with accommodation until our repatriation," Faridul said.