Secretary in charge of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment AKM Shamsuddin formally received the bodies at the Zia International Airport after a Bangladesh Biman flight carrying them landed at 9:00am.

The expatriates' welfare ministry took initiative to bring the bodies home.

The owner of the sofa factory gave Tk 40,000 against each dead body as extra fine, Shamsuddin told The Daily Star last night.

The full compensation will be given on the basis of court verdict, he said.

The Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia filed a case with the Saudi court for compensation to the fire victims.

The families of each victim may get Tk 3-5 lakh as compensation after the court verdict and it may take two to three months, sources said, adding that Saudi police is keeping watch on the owner.

The expatriates' ministry sent the bodies to the respective village homes on microbuses and made arrangement for their burial at its expenditure.

The dead are: Rafiqul Islam, son of Saidur Rahman, Narail, Mohammad Nurun Nabi, son of late Shafiullah, Sonagazi, Feni, Mohammad Nizam Uddin, son of Abu Saleh, Laksham, Comilla, Abdur Rob, son of Waziullah Ramganj, Laxmipur, Abu Naser, son of Abdus Sattar, Senbagh, Noakhali, Khurshid Alam, son of Belayet Hossain Chatkhil, Noakhali, and Mohammad Nasir, son of Habib Mian, Brahmanbaria.