Families of 18 Nepali migrant workers who died in road accidents in Saudi Arabia have received Rs 70 million blood money from the Saudi government. Nepali Embassy based in Saudhi Capital Riyadh fought a court battle on behalf of the affected Nepali family to pay the blood money.

The Embassy has already sent the money received in the name of Nepali road accident victims to the Foreign Ministry so as to deliver the money to the respective districts.

The victims receiving the blood money are BhimBhattara of Jhapa,  BhupalDevLimbu, of Dhankuta, ChitraBahadurThapa, of Tanahun, Devendra Prasad Raya, of Saptari, DevrajRai, of Khotang, EkprasadLamichhane; Shiva Kumar Yadav, Jal Mohammad Rain, MohamadMujahidSeikh, M JahirMansoor, Raj BahadurKunwar, of Siraha; Ramesh Pulami, of Lalitpur, Ram NathRai, of Khotang, SalimMiya, of Siraha, SantoshKhatri, of Khotang and Jaya BahadurSubedi, of Gulmi. The blood money given to deceased Nepali workers ranges from 5000 Riyal to 300,000 Riyal.

“The blood money is different as the verdict, based on Saudi Arabia’s law, depends on the mistake and the religion of the person dying in the accident,” read a statement issued by the Embassy.  Last year, the Nepali Embassy had sent Rs 114.337million blood money of 249 people who died in the accident.

Nepali Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mahendra Singh Rajput said the embassy itself has been defending on behalf of the victims’ families for claiming the blood money.

The Embassy has not been taking service charge from the families of the victims for defending the case.

“In the last fiscal year, cases relating to blood money of 41 deceased persons had concluded through court’s process. Among them, blood money of 18 persons has been extracted from the authorities concerned and sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said envoy Rajput.