Nishat Matbar, 22, left home on 2 October 2025, telling his family he was travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah with his friends.
It was not until much later, when he had reached Libya, that his family learned he was attempting to reach Italy by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, locally known as "game".
Nishat was among 16 youths from Shibchar upazila in Madaripur, all under 25, who ended up being held captive by traffickers in Libya. Only two were deported home, after having survived almost three days at sea. The others, including Nishat, reportedly drowned on the first night after their boat capsized.
A year later, Nishat's mother still cries, remaining in denial and waiting for her son to return home. He also left behind a wife and an infant. His family spent at least Tk27 lakh to send him abroad, selling land, taking loans and borrowing from neighbours. They hoped to repay the debt with the money Nishat would send home from Italy.
Farid Matbar, 24, was one of the survivors of that fateful journey that took Nishat's life.
"The boat had been at sea for nearly five hours from Benghazi when strong winds made it sway violently," he said. "When the Libyan boatman kept updating his men by phone, we thought someone was coming to help. But suddenly he shouted in Arabic and sped up."
Then the boat capsized.
"For 30 to 40 seconds, I swallowed water and surfaced repeatedly. Everyone screamed," Farid said, as his mother stood beside him, wiping her tears.
About 120 men in total, including at least 70 Bangladeshis, were caught in that deadly voyage in the heart of the Mediterranean on that unfortunate dawn in November 2025.
"Dawn broke while we were in the water," Farid recalled. "We were told that Italy lay in the direction where the sun rises. We swam towards the sun until noon."
That afternoon, Farid saw Nishat and three of his friends clinging to the part of the boat still afloat. "After night fell, they were nowhere to be seen," he said. After nearly three days on water, a vessel rescued just 21 of them.
He knew eight men from his area on the boat. Only 21-year-old Asif survived and returned with him. The others were lost at sea.
Though Nishat's home is just a five-minute walk away, Farid could not tell his family that Nishat and his friends had disappeared at sea and would never return.
"For 30 to 40 seconds, I swallowed water and surfaced repeatedly. After nearly three days on water, a vessel rescued just 21 of us." - Farid Matbar
Scars, both financial and physical
Raj Dongi, 21, from Madaripur Sadar, returned home in July this year after going to Libya in 2021, when he was just 16. Over five years, Raj was sold six times to brokers, beaten unconscious, threatened with guns, and left with scars from being beaten with pipes and knife wounds on his forearm.
With his father unable to work, Raj's family lost nearly Tk30 lakh and their farmland over five years. They now live in a tin-shed house with a mud floor in Amgram union, Rajoir, with no livestock or other income-generating assets.
"I went to Libya in August 2024 and attempted to reach Malta. My broker charged Tk17 lakh." - Jahid Hasan
Yet, the financial loss for Jahid Hasan is way more than that of the above returnees. For this 24-year-old, his family lost at least Tk90 lakh in his two attempts to reach Europe.
"At first, I went to Libya in August 2024 and attempted to reach Malta. My broker charged Tk17 lakh from me at that time," Jahid said. After seven days in Libya, he was detained by the military near the Maltese waters. He was held in a detention centre for six months, and sent back home.
Three months later, Jahid fell for the same broker's trap again.
"After I returned, I asked what I should do. He offered another 'game' for Tk15 lakh, with the rest payable after reaching Italy," Jahid said. He and his family identified the broker, Siam Zomaddar, as a close neighbour who himself is now in Italy.
Unable to pay upfront, Jahid was taken to Libya for free by Siam within 15 days. Three months later, he was sent on a "game", caught by the Libyan coast guard and jailed for another three months. After paying Tk3 lakh for his release, he was sold to a gang and resold twice within four months.
"I decided to return home," he said. But Siam again lured him with false promises, offering a "contact game", a supposedly safer arrangement that costs significantly more than a regular crossing, with two other men.
Instead, Jahid was sent directly to a "mafia house". "They told me, 'Your broker sold you to us,'" he said.
"They started calling me and demanding money. They worked out the time difference between Libya and Bangladesh. After Fajr prayer, they used to call me and send videos of my son being tortured," said Jahid's mother, sobbing.
After almost two weeks, Jahid's family paid Tk25 lakh. He was released and later helped by a Bangladeshi expatriate in Libya.
"My family spent Tk26 lakh to send me to Italy, but I failed. They will send me again to recover the money lost." -Md Juel
The European dream
Bangladeshi migration to Italy began in the 1980s and 1990s. By 2009, an estimated 84,000 Bangladeshis lived there, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
As conditions in the Gulf worsened, many turned to Libya as a route to Europe in search of better livelihoods. The "Middle East dream" quickly turned into a "European dream", despite mounting financial losses and deaths. UNHCR data show Bangladeshis were the largest nationality group arriving by sea in Italy in 2024 and 2025, with at least 34,500 arrivals over the two years.
Behind these figures are people from Madaripur, Faridpur, Shariatpur, Rajbari and Gopalganj who are deported after failing to cross the sea, while many others fall into deadly traps in Libya.
We analysed a dataset jointly compiled by BRAC and IOM, listing 3,080 men deported from five districts between February 2024 and August 2026, mostly from Libya. Of them, 1,625 were from Madaripur; 78% were youths, and nearly half were aged 24 or younger. Of those from Madaripur, 1,545 returned from Libya.
However, the data excludes independent returnees and does not capture the actual death toll.
"People see neighbours building houses, but they do not see how many others have lost money, land, drowned in the sea, or are rotting in prison," said Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC Migration Programme.
"Of those who migrate through this route, only 3% successfully obtain work permits in Italy. People see their success and begin to believe the dream is achievable, but the journey is deadly," he added.
He also said this trend has become something close to an addiction among many of the youth in this area. It pushes them to death and extreme risks due to physical torture, hunger, and a bare existence in Libya. Their families lose large sums of money and often their land, and sink into heavy debt.
A BRAC Migration Programme study found that returnees from Madaripur lose at least Tk25 lakh on average, with losses reaching Tk50-70 lakh in some cases. Four men from Peyarpur union, who travelled to Libya through the same broker, returned with a combined loss of Tk1.6 crore.
The money is rarely anyone's savings.
When Jahid's life was at risk in Libya, before he was released from the mafia, his mother got only a week to manage Tk25 lakh.
"They were torturing my son badly. They weren't giving us time. I couldn't sleep, worrying about so much money. Later we had to raise the money by mortgaging our land and borrowing from relatives," she said.
'A social disease'
Shariful Hasan believes the situation for Madaripur's people is no longer confined to a dream of a better life in Europe. Rather, they want to leave the country at any cost.
"When desperation takes hold, they no longer consider the dangers or risks. It has become a social disease. They are convinced that if their neighbours can reach Italy in a few days, why can't they?"
Farid Matbar's mother said, "In our neighbourhood, four of the six households have sent their sons to Italy. Even this year, one of Farid's friends went to Italy, spending Tk29 lakh. Only my son has been unlucky."
It has become common in Madaripur for families to seek an Italian expatriate as a prospective groom for their daughters. "If we cannot send our son to Italy, we cannot marry him into a good family. If we can manage to raise the money, we will send our son to Italy, even if it takes another two years," she added.
Almost all teenagers in Madaripur believe "a game to Italy" could change their fate.
Md Juel, 16, from Charmuguria union in Madaripur Sadar, lost his parents when he was just seven. He grew up with his grandmother and completed high school earlier this year. His family said it was the right time to send him to Italy.
In August this year, he and one of his close relatives reached Libya, spending Tk51 lakh together. They said their two relatives went to Italy two years ago through the same broker, so the trust was there.
However, the journey from Tripoli ended in peril. Their boat cracked and began taking on water just two hours after departure, forcing them back to the Libyan coast. The coast guard detained them and sent them home three months later.
"My family spent Tk26 lakh to send me to Italy, but I failed. They will send me again to recover the money lost," he said.
Of the returnees list from the IOM and BRAC, at least 27 are under 18 and returned to Madaripur in the last three years. Juel is not included in this list. So there are many. And many more are in the queue, yet to get permission and financial support from their family.
Main perpetrators safe in Libya
In July this year, the Madaripur District Police initiated a dedicated Human Trafficking Prevention and Monitoring Cell.
The cell has filed 47 cases and listed 157 suspects. Of these, 35 have been held so far, according to Jahangir Alam, additional superintendent of Madaripur District Police.
Shariful Hasan, however, remains pessimistic, "What's going on in Madaripur is an organised crime, which has multiple layers. It cannot be prevented by only taking the local collaborators under the law until stopped from above the layers."
He believes that preventing human trafficking is not a priority for the police. "If you investigate who sent them abroad, in most cases, the broker is their own relative or someone connected to them," he added.
Shariful is also reluctant to blame local law enforcement alone. "The police may want to investigate a case and gather evidence, but the crime scene is not in Bangladesh; it is in Libya. The police cannot simply travel to Libya," he said. "In cases like these, even if the police arrest local brokers, it does not really solve the problem because the main perpetrators are in Libya."
Addressing the situation, he says, will require raising awareness locally, strengthening education, creating alternatives, and decent employment opportunities.