Dhaka, May 3 -- Eight bodies of Bangladeshi nationals who died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya by boat to reach Italy were brought to Dhaka on Thursday.

A flight carrying the eight bodies landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 12:30 p.m.

The deceased were identified as Mamun Sheikh, Sajal Bairagi, Nayan Biswas, Rifat Sheikh, Sajib Kazi, Imrul Kayes Apon, Md Abdur Kaiser, and Rasel Sheikh. All of them were the residents of Madaripur and Gopalganj.

The relatives of the deceased, waiting to receive the bodies at the airport, said that the middlemen had taken 52 people on a small boat. The eight people who died were put in a plastic bag under the boat.

They tried to come out from under the boat due to a...