Moyna Begum had no electricity at home when her son Mohan Pramanik was calling from Riyadh as a fire tore through the sofa factory where he worked.

With the internet router offline, she did not receive the notification for the calls until it was too late.

However, Mohan, 28, left a voice message on IMO, which has become his last message to his family.

Mohan and his younger brother Suman Pramanik, 26, were among 16 Bangladeshi workers killed in the fire at the sofa factory in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday. Both were from Gandagohali village in Naogaon’s Atrai upazila.

Visiting the village yesterday afternoon, this newspaper found their families overwhelmed by grief.

In his final voice message, Mohan asked why nobody at home was answering his calls and said he would not be able to speak to them again.

Mohan had not returned home once in seven years, while Suman went to Saudi Arabia two years ago, their younger sister Aduri Begum said.

“The brothers had planned first to build a concrete house for their family and then return home to get married. The work on the house has begun, but they won’t be here to see it get finished,” Aduri said.

A pall of gloom has descended on Gandagohali village.

Moyna said all she wanted now was for the government to bring her sons’ bodies home.

Two other men from Gandagohali, Rubel Miah and Kalimuddin, were also killed in the same fire.

Rubel had lived in Saudi Arabia for eight years. He returned home two years ago to get married. Most recently, he came in December and stayed for four months before leaving again.

His daughter was born only 15 days ago.

Rubel’s wife, Akhi Begum, 19, said her husband would often call to see their daughter and ask how she was doing. They even spoke on the morning of the fire.

“My daughter would never get to sit on her father’s lap. Please bring my husband back,” she said.

Kalimuddin, 30, had been in Saudi Arabia for nearly nine years and was due to return home in a month to get married. His mother, Karima Begum, could barely speak through her tears. “I’ve lost my son; how will I live now?”

Karima said she wanted her son’s body brought home so she could see him one last time and bury him in the family graveyard.

While four families in Gandagohali mourn, another family in the same village is thanking their lucky stars.

Habibur Rahman, 26, was among the others working at the factory. He survived because he had gone to a nearby salon to have a shave.

Habibur told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday that most workers slept during the day and worked at night. He went to the salon around noon, and the fire broke out around 1:30pm.

By the time he returned, police and firefighters were battling the blaze, and he could no longer enter the factory.

Habibur said all 17 workers also lived inside the single-storey factory and that their passports and other documents were destroyed in the fire.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh, citing local administration sources, said eight died in the fire, and eight others died after inhaling black smoke.

The embassy, in a notice yesterday, said the fire broke out around 2:00pm [Riyadh time] at a sofa-making factory in the Musa Sanaiya industrial area under Shifa Police Station. An electrical short circuit was initially suspected as the cause.

Embassy officials went to the scene after being informed as civil defence personnel recovered all 16 bodies, the notice added.

It also said identifying the victims had become difficult because their passports and other documents were destroyed in the fire.

The victims would initially be identified through fingerprints. DNA tests could be required if identification through fingerprints is not possible, the embassy said.

According to a foreign ministry press release, the Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh would coordinate with Saudi authorities and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment to expedite identification of the bodies.

After identification and completion of the required Saudi formalities, arrangements to repatriate the bodies would be made at government expense.

The government will also provide a one-off special humanitarian grant to each of the 16 victims’ families, while the respective district administrations have already provided Tk 20,000 in immediate assistance to each family.

Asked about the factory, Habibur said the 17 Bangladeshis worked under a contractual arrangement, taking orders and delivering finished products.

Helal Pramanik, a friend of Habibur from Gandagohali who said he had worked at the same factory around five years ago, claimed the factory was an illegal establishement.

He said it had no windows and alleged that its doors remained locked from outside during the day to prevent police from entering, leaving workers unable to escape when the fire broke out.

Of the 16 dead, 13 were from Atrai upazila, two from Naldanga upazila in Natore and one from Bagmara upazila in Rajshahi.

Naogaon Deputy Commissioner Md Saiful Islam said the administration was contacting their families and coordinating with the expatriates ministry to bring the bodies home.

Naogaon Atrai UNO Md Moniruzzaman said they were also maintaining contact with the Bangladesh Embassy to expedite the repatriation process.