The mortal remains of Nahida Sultana Brishti, a Bangladeshi student of the University of South Florida who was tragically killed in the United States, have been sent to Bangladesh following completion of all legal formalities, officials said today.

The Consulate General of Bangladesh in Miami issued a press release stating that Brishti’s body was dispatched from Orlando International Airport in Florida on Thursday evening for Bangladesh via Dubai.

The body is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh at 8:40 am on May 9, Bangladesh time.

Following confirmation of the identification of Brishti’s body by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on May 1, the Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, D.C., and the Consulate General in Miami worked in close coordination with the victim’s family, university authorities, local Bangladeshi expatriates in Tampa, and the relevant law enforcement agencies to complete all local legal procedures in the shortest possible time.

Earlier, the funeral prayer of Brishti was held on Wednesday after Zuhr prayers at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area mosque.

Students of the University of South Florida, officials of the Bangladesh Consulate General in Miami, media representatives, and members of the Bangladeshi community attended the janaza prayer.

Jamil Ahmed Limon and Nahida Sultana Bristy, both 27, the students were last seen on April 16 and reported missing in the following days. Authorities later recovered Limon’s body from the Howard Frankland Bridge area in Tampa. Days later, human remains found in nearby mangroves were identified as Bristy.

A 26-year-old suspect, Hisham Abugharbieh, has been charged with two counts of premeditated murder and is being held without bond, according to investigators.

The killings have sent shockwaves through Bangladeshi expatriate communities and academic circles in the United States and beyond.

Limon was laid to rest earlier this week in his native village in Madarganj upazila of Jamalpur district after his body was repatriated to Bangladesh.

The University of South Florida will award posthumous doctoral degrees to two Bangladeshi students killed last month in the US state of Florida.