A close-knit migrant community in Sydney has come together following the tragic death of one of its members.
Mohammed Omor Faruk, a 25-year-old student, was found dead in his room in the Sydney suburb of Lidcombe on September 19.
His best friend in Australia, Mohammed Parvez Hossain, has one GoFundMe to help repatriate Mr Faruk to his home country, Bangladesh.
When Faruk’s family had not heard from him for three days, they contacted Ms Hossain via Facebook.
He called his friend and got no answer, so he called a friend who lived nearby to check on Mr. Faruk.
The student, who moved to Australia in 2022, was “found lying on the floor next to the bed”, Mr Hossain told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
Mr Hossain, who is also from Bangladesh and had studied with Mr Faruk in South Korea, arrived at the house minutes later.
Paramedics, who were already on the scene, told him that his friend had been dead for 36 hours or more.
Muhammad Omor Faruk, a 25-year-old student, was found dead in his room on September 19
‘But no one actually knew (he had died) because it was a house and he lived alone in a room.
“His housemates were from another country and they didn’t knock on his door because they didn’t realize this could happen,” he said.
The original fundraising goal of $12,000 was almost reached as of Monday afternoon.
“We have raised enough money to send his body back (to his family in Bangladesh),” Mr Hossain said.
He said the money was raised very quickly, with donations from all over the world, as news of the tragedy spread.
Mr Faruk lived in the Sydney suburb of Lidcombe (Lidcombe Post Office pictured)
‘We are very happy to have received so many responses from all over the world.
“We have many friends from our university who have moved to different countries and we have reached out to all of them and they have also forwarded this campaign to their friends and family,” he said.
“So we got a huge response from everyone, not just from Australia, (but also from) South Korea, from European countries, from America, from Canada.”
The exact cause of Mr Faruk’s death is not yet known.