HANOI, Vietnam (AP) \u2014 He had met his 6-year-old son only once. A few days together in a life otherwise spent apart.<\/p>\n
For 15 years, Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun worked in Saudi Arabia, sending money home to his family in one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh. This year, he had planned to return, build a larger house with his savings and spend time with the child he barely knew.<\/p>\n
Then, on March 8, a missile struck<\/a> his workers\u2019 camp. He suffered severe burns and later died. He was among more than two dozen foreign workers killed across the Mideast after the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February.<\/p>\n Tens of millions of foreign workers have helped build the Gulf Arab states\u2019 modern, oil-fueled economies \u2014 with many not fully sharing in their prosperity. Now they face an even sharper dilemma: Keep working in the Mideast, where wages are far higher, hoping that a shaky ceasefire endures<\/a>; or return to already poor countries where prices have soared<\/a> because of the conflict.<\/p>\n Mamun\u2019s choice was made for him. He arrived home in a coffin earlier this month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what we will do next,\u201d said his widow, Sadia Islam Sarmin.<\/p>\n Millions work with little protection<\/p>\n Migrant workers make up a majority of the population in many Gulf Arab states. Westerners, Arabs and Indians dominate business and finance, while laborers from poor countries in Asia and Africa toil for long hours in scorching temperatures at oil facilities and construction sites \u2014 often with few protections.<\/p>\n The Coalition for Labour Justice for Migrants in the Gulf, an advocacy group, says few had access to bomb shelters and many were stranded by the conflict. It says attacks killed at least 24 foreign workers in the Gulf and four in Israel as Iran and allied armed groups launched waves of missile and drones strikes. Their count includes eight mariners killed at sea.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very precarious situation for migrant workers,\u201d said Udaya Wagle, who studies labor and migration at the Northern Arizona University.<\/p>\n A ceasefire was announced in early April, but negotiations to end the war have repeatedly stalled<\/a>. Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, a key waterway for global oil and gas, and says it will only reopen it if the war ends and the U.S. lifts its blockade.<\/p>\n The resulting spike in the price of gas, fertilizer<\/a> and other goods has hit Asian countries particularly hard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Remittances from the Gulf make up about 1% of the gross domestic product of India, 3% to 5% of the GDP in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and nearly 10% in Nepal. Now they are more vital than ever, as household incomes are strained and governments seek foreign currency to buy oil and gas.<\/p>\n The Gulf economies also face a bleak outlook, with exports bottled up and key energy facilities in need of repair after missile strikes. The fighting could resume, as Iran rejects U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> \u2018s demands.<\/p>\n Low-wage laborers are the most vulnerable<\/p>\n Mamun\u2019s family awoke on March 9 to phone calls saying the 35-year-old had been hurt. Video footage shot by another worker showed him sitting in the open, badly burned and bleeding, crying out for help.<\/p>\n \u201cHe never imagined he would be hurt. That a missile would fall on him,\u201d said Maruf Hasain, his younger brother.<\/p>\n Workers like Mamun are the most vulnerable since they do the \u201cmost dirty, dangerous and difficult\u201d jobs, said Shariful Islam Hasan of the Bangladeshi development organization BRAC.<\/p>\n In Qatar, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi factory worker labored through 12-hour shifts as missiles flew overhead. Shrapnel from one strike fell near his living quarters. When alarms sounded, he said, workers went to a designated room.<\/p>\n He earns less than $400 monthly and sends two-thirds home. \u201cWe have no choice but to keep working,\u201d he said on condition of anonymity for fear of angering the authorities.<\/p>\n Qatar enacted several reforms<\/a> in the run-up to hosting the 2022 World Cup, including the partial dismantling of a system that tied workers to their employers. But activists say abuses are still widespread and that workers have few avenues to pursue justice.<\/p>\n Ahmed al-Aliyli, a taxi driver in Qatar, has not sent money home to his family in Egypt for two months. He once earned as much as $3,000 a month but his income has plunged to a third of that as the war has disrupted travel<\/a>. \u201cWe are the collateral damage of this war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A slowdown in key sectors like real estate and construction will hit migrant workers directly, said Hasan of BRAC. Workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan are especially vulnerable, as they are often employed informally and without fixed contracts, he said.<\/p>\n Despite reforms in some countries, work permits are also often tied to a single employer and, in some cases, workers are effectively stranded, according to the labor coalition. It warned that some employers may use the conflict to withhold wages, deny leave or carry out arbitrary dismissals.<\/p>\n For many, going home isn\u2019t an option<\/p>\n When the war began, Mamun\u2019s mother, Shahida Khatun, urged him to come home.<\/p>\n He had been saving up since November. In his last call home, he promised his younger brother and sisters he would pay for their studies, that he would build a larger house for his parents and return for good this spring.<\/p>\n Now, his family is struggling to recover his wages and piece together a life without him.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pain of losing a child. There are no words to describe the agony,\u201d Kathun said.<\/p>\n For many workers, going home would mean giving up a steady income and much higher wages.<\/p>\n Marlene Flores, a Filipina worker in Qatar, said she felt the shudder each time a missile was intercepted. But the tax-free pay and health insurance made it feel safer \u2014 in a way \u2014 than the Philippines, which has declared a \u2033 national energy emergency.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not easy for me to say,\u201d she admitted, \u201cBut I would really stay here.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel also has a large population of foreign workers<\/a>. Filipino caregiver Jeremiah Supan continued caring for his two elderly charges despite near-daily missile alerts, sometimes dashing out for food or medicine despite the danger. He questions whether his own family could survive if he returns to the Philippines.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that in the blink of an eye, one can die,\u201d he said. \u201cBut what life shall we return to?\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Al Emrun Garjon in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sam Magdy in Cairo, and Eileen Ng from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HANOI, Vietnam (AP) \u2014 He had met his 6-year-old son only once. 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