Murdered in US: Bristy's body arrives home from Florida

The body of Bangladeshi student Nahida Sultana Bristy, who was murdered in the United States, arrived in Dhaka this morning (9 May) from Florida.

The aircraft carrying Bristy's body landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 9am Bangladesh time, foreign ministry sources confirmed.

An ambulance carrying the body left the airport's cargo village area around 10am, where Bristy's parents, relatives and family members gathered in grief.

On Thursday (7 May) local time, an Emirates flight departed from Orlando International Airport in Florida with Bristy's body for Dhaka via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Golam Mortoza, press minister at the Bangladesh embassy in Washington, said in a Facebook post that a representative from the Bangladesh Consulate in Miami was present at the airport during the departure process.

Earlier, Bristy's first namaj-e-janaza was held in Tampa, Florida, at 2pm local time on Wednesday. Students and teachers from the University of South Florida, along with members of the Bangladeshi community, attended the funeral prayer.

Bristy, 27, was a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the University of South Florida. Another Bangladeshi student from the same university, Zamil Ahamed Limon, 27, was also killed in the incident. His body arrived in Dhaka on 4 May.

The university later awarded posthumous doctorate degrees to both Bristy and Limon.

The two students went missing on 16 April. Police later confirmed they had been murdered and arrested 26-year-old US citizen Hisham Abugharbieh, identified as Limon's roommate, in connection with the killings.

Investigators used cellphone location data and licence plate reader information to track Abugharbieh's vehicle and Limon's phone to the bridge where Limon's body was recovered on 24 April. Bristy's body was identified on 1 May.