TEAM Group MD's body to arrive in Dhaka Friday night

The body of Abdullah Hill Rakib, managing director (MD) of TEAM Group, one of the leading export-oriented garment manufacturers in Bangladesh, will arrive in Dhaka by a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on Friday night.

SM Khaled, a friend of Abdullah Hill Rakib and managing director of Snowtex Group, told this to Prothom Alo.

He said that currently the body is being preserved in a mortuary. The first namaj-e-janaza will be held at the Sunnatul Jamaat Mosque in Danforth, Toronto, at 7:00 pm local time on Wednesday. The next day, family members will leave Canada with his body on a Biman flight to Bangladesh. If everything goes as planned, they are expected to arrive in Dhaka on Friday night, he added.

Former BGMEA director Mohiuddin Rubel told Prothom Alo on Tuesday that the namaj-e-janaza of Abdullah Hill Rakib will be held at the BGMEA building in Uttara and later at DOHS Banani on Saturday. He will then be buried at the Banani graveyard.

Abdullah Hill Rakib and his friend Captain Md Saifuz Zaman of Biman Bangladesh Airlines died in the afternoon of 9 June in a boat accident at a lake in Canada.

Abdullah Hill Rakib had been involved in the garment industry for three decades. He served as the senior vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). After completing his studies, he worked for six years in both domestic and international companies. In 1999, he launched a buying house on a profit-sharing basis.

Later, he went on to establish garment factories, following a different path compared to many other entrepreneurs. He revived four sick garment factories one after another. Two of these were environment-friendly factories. He not only brought them back to life but also turned them into profitable ventures, creating employment for thousands. He also launched a local fashion brand, ‘Twelve’, in Bangladesh.

Among three sisters and two brothers, Abdullah Hill Rakib was the fourth sibling. His wife is Afroza Shaheen. The couple had two children—Mahir Dayyan and Lamia Tabassum. For their children’s education, the family had been living in Toronto, Canada, for several years. Afroza Shaheen lived there with the children, while Rakib used to travel from Dhaka to Canada during holidays. Last Thursday, Rakib departed from Dhaka to celebrate Eid with his family.

After the sudden news of Abdullah Hill Rakib’s death spread on Monday morning, a wave of grief swept through the garment and business community. Many immediately expressed condolences on social media.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Biman expressed condolences over the death of Captain Md Saifuz Zaman. In a condolence post on its official Facebook page, Biman Bangladesh Airlines said that Captain Saifuz Zaman, who flew the Boeing 787, was a source of pride for the airline due to his professionalism, sense of duty, and commitment. His untimely death has left a void that will be hard to fill.