Kaliganj (Gazipur) Correspondent //

He had but one dream: to break free from the shackles of poverty and bring a smile to his family’s faces. Driven by that dream, Yusuf Hasan Alif (27)—a young man from the Uttargaon area of ​​Kaliganj Municipality—traveled through several countries before finally arriving in Spain last June.

But cruel fate had something else in store for him. The joy of receiving his valid work permit did not even last two days; before that could happen, all the dreams and potential of this young man were extinguished by the merciless flames of a fire.

After a long wait and the completion of legal formalities, his body arrived back in the country early Friday morning (September 11).

It is reported that after submitting the necessary documents and enduring a long wait, he finally secured permission to work in Spain. When the long-awaited day arrived, Alif called home to share the happy news with his family. However, that joy was short-lived. Just two days after receiving the permit, his life came to a tragic end in a devastating fire in Madrid, the capital of Spain, on August 30.

The memory of his final moments still brings tears to the eyes of his colleagues and loved ones. Trapped in the fire and suffocating, Alif had sent a desperate plea for help to his colleagues via a WhatsApp group.

In his final message, he wrote: “Save us, brother; I’m suffocating.”

But it was already too late. That desperate cry for survival became his final words. He could not be saved from the clutches of the fire.

The fire broke out at 7:37 PM (local time) on August 30 in a bicycle garage located on Calle Canarias in the Metro Palos de la Frontera area of ​​Madrid’s Arganzuela district.

According to eyewitnesses and local sources, Alif had gone to the garage that day—just as he did every day—to pick up the bicycle used for his food delivery job. The very garage he visited regularly to earn a living became the final place he would ever know. Suddenly, the battery of an electric bicycle exploded, and fire instantly engulfed the entire garage. Alif and two of his colleagues suffered severe burns from the raging flames.

Upon receiving the news, 13 units from the Madrid City Council Fire Service rushed to the scene. Firefighters brought the blaze under control after a prolonged effort. Toxic gases accumulated in the garage were cleared, and the remaining electric bicycles were moved to a safe distance to prevent the fire from reigniting. But by then, it was too late; doctors declared Alif dead at the scene. His two injured colleagues remain in critical condition at a local hospital, fighting for their lives.

**A Long Journey Home, Driven by the Call of the Homeland**

Bringing home the body of a son who lost his life on foreign soil was no easy task. The journey back was arduous, marked by a succession of legal procedures, bureaucratic complexities, and days of anxious waiting.

On September 4, Alif’s funeral prayer (*Janaza*) was held at the Baitul Mukarram Jame Mosque in Madrid, organized by the expatriate Bangladeshi community. Expatriates living in Spain carried his lifeless body on their shoulders that day, bidding a tearful farewell to a fellow countryman they had never known.

Following the completion of legal formalities, Alif’s remains—encased in a coffin—departed for Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight (TK-1360) at 7:40 AM (Madrid time) on September 10. From there, the body began its final journey to Bangladesh on a connecting flight.

His grief-stricken father was waiting at the airport. After completing all necessary legal procedures, airport authorities handed over the coffin to him. The father, who had once sent his son abroad full of hope, was now left to embrace a lifeless coffin.

The deceased, Yusuf Hasan Alif, was the son of Abdul Motalib and Rahima Khatun from the Uttargaon area of ​​Kaliganj Municipality in Gazipur. He was a food delivery rider by profession—a hardworking young man who cycled tirelessly every day, dreaming of supporting his family with the income earned abroad.

**Grief Grips Both the Expatriate Community and the Homeland**

As news of Alif’s tragic death spread, a pall of deep sorrow descended upon the Bangladeshi expatriate community in Spain. Those who knew him—and those who had embarked on their own journeys abroad sharing similar dreams—still struggle to come to terms with his sudden passing.

Simultaneously, a wave of mourning has swept through the Uttar-gaon area of ​​Kaliganj, far away. Neighbors, relatives, and acquaintances still vividly recall the face of the vibrant young man who had once left home with a smile, dreaming of a life abroad. With voices full of regret and eyes filled with tears, the entire locality seems immersed in an unspoken anguish.

Shafiqul Islam Russel, the deceased’s cousin and a resident of Barcelona, ​​confirmed these details, stating that Alif was laid to rest in the family graveyard in Uttar-gaon, Kaliganj, following his funeral prayers (Janaza) after the Friday Jumu’ah prayers.

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