Unrelated videos shared claiming to show expatriates’ bodies burned at Dhaka airport
Multiple videos have spread on social media claiming that they show the bodies of Bangladeshi expatriates burned in a fire at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. However, verification found that the claims are false. The scenes shown in the videos are not from Dhaka, but from the handover of the bodies of eight expatriates from Oman at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram.
Claim 1
A video has spread on Facebook claiming that several repatriated expatriates’ bodies were burned to ashes in a fire at the cargo section of the Dhaka airport. In the five-second video, three ambulances are seen leaving a building one after another.
The post’s caption reads, “In a massive fire at the cargo section of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, several repatriated expatriates’ bodies were completely burned to ashes. Although several fire service units worked for several hours to bring the fire under control, they could not save the bodies kept in coffins or the valuable cargo.”
Keyframe searches from the video revealed a 55-second video, posted on the Facebook page of Sandwip TV on October 18 [specify year]. The scenes between the 8th and 12th seconds of the video matched the circulated clip. The caption of the post read, “Seven lifeless bodies of Oman accident victims are being placed in boxes at Kumira Ghat.”
Further verification through keyword searches using “Oman” and “expatriates” found multiple media reports (1, 2, 3, 4) about an October 8 road accident in Sidra, Duqm Province, Oman, that killed eight expatriates. Their bodies arrived at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport on October 18.
Several reports (1, 2, 3, 4) were also found about this incident. A report published in Chattogram-based Dainik Azadi on October 19 stated, “Eight expatriates from Chattogram were killed in a tragic road accident in Oman on October 8. Among them, seven were residents of Sandwip upazila, and the other was from Raozan upazila. After ten days, on Saturday, the expatriates’ bodies arrived. At 9:05 p.m., the eight coffins came out one by one through the airport’s cargo gate. At 10:40 p.m., after completing the airport’s formalities, seven ambulances carrying the bodies left for Kumira Ghat.”
Dismislab also contacted the number written on the ambulances seen in the video, labelled “Samia Freezer Service.” The transport agency confirmed that the bodies were properly handed over to the expatriates’ families and transported from the airport to Sandwip.
Claim 2
Another video has been shared on Facebook claiming that the bodies arriving from abroad were burned to ashes at the airport. In the 30-second video, several people are seen standing behind several coffins at the beginning, followed by scenes of the coffins being unloaded. The video’s caption reads, “After 6/7 days, the bodies came home! Before reaching home, they were burned to ashes at the airport, oh, life!” Inside the video, the text says, “Expatriates’ bodies burned to ashes in airport fire!”
The same video has been shared on several Facebook profiles (1, 2, 3) and pages (1, 2, 3) with the same claim.
Keyframe searches returned a 15:18-minute video, posted by the verified Facebook page of News24 on October 18. The scenes between 9:16 and 10:06 minutes of the News24 video match the circulating one. The video caption read, “Live >>> The bodies of seven expatriates killed in a road accident in Oman have arrived at Chattogram Airport.”
Further keyframe searches found several (1, 2, 3, 4) news reports. The images used in these reports matched the scenes in the circulated video. A report by Ajker Patrika published on October 19 stated, “The bodies of eight Bangladeshis killed in a road accident in Oman have arrived in Chattogram. At around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight landed at Shah Amanat International Airport from Muscat with the coffins. After completing all formalities, the authorities handed over the bodies to the relatives at around 9:15 p.m. Chattogram Airport Public Relations Officer Engineer Md Ibrahim Khalil also confirmed the information to Dismislab.
Thus, the video is from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram, where no fire incident took place on October 18.
Notably, at around 4 p.m. Bangladesh time on October 8, eight people, including seven expatriates from Sandwip upazila, were killed in an accident in Sidra, Duqm, Oman. The accident occurred when a large fish truck from Sidra, heading toward the sea, collided at high speed with another vehicle.
On October 18, at around 2:30 p.m., a massive fire broke out at the cargo village complex of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. It took 37 units from 13 fire stations, about six and a half hours to bring the fire under control. After the fire, all flight operations were suspended. The airport resumed operations around 9 p.m. after the fire was brought under control.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on October 19, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
