'Many migrant workers will die': the human cost of 2034

Millions will build stadiums and hotels but testimony suggests abuse is deeply entrenched in Saudi Arabia

- Pete Pattisson

When Shahadat set out for Saudi Arabia from his village in Bangladesh, he was driven by a single purpose: to earn money for his impoverished family. "If he sent money home, his family would eat. If he didn't, they wouldn't," says a relative. For years he just about scraped by, sending a little money home each month and trying to pay down the huge debt he took on to afford the illegal fees a recruitment agent had charged him to get to Saudi Arabia.

Then it all began to unravel. An employer failed to renew his residence permit, turning him into an undocumented worker. His health began to suffer, but his irregular status meant it would have been difficult to access medical care.

He struggled to find work. Instead of sending money home, he had to borrow more to survive. He was so desperate he took on jobs on construction sites in exchange for only food and board.

And then his journey came to a sudden end. "I phoned him one day and his roommate told me he was sleeping," says Shahadat's wife, Rojina. "When they tried to wake him up, they found he was dead."

Shahadat's death was one of a number of stories shared with the Guardian this year as we investigated the high number of unexplained deaths of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.